Last week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services posted a tentative Physician Fee Schedule for 2023. Initial reactions from radiology were muted. That changed this Wednesday.
“CMS couldn’t have picked a worse time to cut Medicare payments to physicians,” says Bob Still, executive director of the Radiology Business Management Association, in prepared remarks sent to the press July 13. “We’re still in the midst of the pandemic, and patients who avoided regular health screenings are returning to doctors’ offices. And it’s that exact moment—when patients need us most—that Congress and the White House decide to introduce disastrous cuts.”
This 2023 PFS “will do incalculable damage to the medical profession,” Still adds. “[W]orst of all, it will hurt the most vulnerable populations.”
The materials were sent by RBMA’s advocacy arm, the Radiology Patient Action Network.
RPAN says that, when combined with expiring Congressional support, the 2023 PFS will result in double-digit pay cuts to radiologists and other medical specialists.
In the process, RPAN warns, the actions will “devastate patient populations throughout the United States.”
More Still:
This isn’t abstract for our physician members. They face huge patient backlogs, rising costs and equipment shortages. And now, on top of all that, they face a massive cut from CMS and Congress. It’s simply unthinkable that policy makers would do this at a time when patients are waiting for life-saving procedures.”
RPAN notes that RBMA doesn’t only voice concerns but also proposes solutions to the annual PFS battles between CMS and healthcare providers.
RBMA is among professional societies that have long fought for a permanent solution, pursuing repeal of budget neutrality, for example, and seeking implementation of an inflation escalator.
RBMA says it’s now readying a formal set of comments for CMS to consider, urging its 2,100+ members to speak out, pressing Congress and the White House to hold off physician pay cuts, and taking other measures to “support doctors during this difficult time.”
More Coverage of Physician Fee Schedule:
ACR’s reading of 5 planks in proposed 2023 MPFS
MedPAC recommends 0% physician pay update in 2023, drawing swift rebuke from docs
Lawmakers pressure congressional leaders to fix clinical labor update set to stifle radiologist pay
Hundreds of radiologists flood feds with pleas to avoid massive Medicare pay cuts
Congress Blindsides Radiology, Votes to Cap PFS Technical Reimbursement at HOPPS Rates
Medicare payments to physicians attributable to noninvasive diagnostic imaging are down
McGinty reacts to MPFS's mixed bag for radiology
ACR Makes Official Appeal to Stop Separate CT and MR Cost Centers in 2014 HOPPS Rule
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.