The American College of Radiology and numerous other major medical societies are asking Health and Human Services to send physicians “immediate financial assistance” to help them weather the coronavirus storm.
ACR, the American Medical Association and others are asking HHS to provide each doctor enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid with one month worth of revenue to help smooth things over. Their members have incurred “significant financial losses” in recent weeks, delaying nonurgent imaging and other procedures to keep patients and staff safe, the groups wrote Tuesday.
“Physicians are continuing to put their patients’ needs first to combat this unprecedented public health emergency. We urge you to support them against financial peril while they put their lives and businesses at risk,” leaders wrote in the April 7 letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar.
Physicians have coped with numerous challenges during their COVID-19 response. Some have had to stay in hotels to help keep their families safe, while others are canceling appointments to preserve supplies for those with critical needs. Small radiology and other practices, in particular, are particularly “vulnerable to financial ruin,” as they cope with limited access to capital and “razor-thin margins.”
Meanwhile, practices with 500 or more employees do not qualify for small business assistance, forcing them to make difficult choices, the physician societies wrote.
“They are faced with the untenable position of laying off staff and physicians due to lower financial revenues while preparing for, and in some areas of the country, responding to a surge in patients with COVID-19,” they noted.
To help out, ACR and others want the feds to provide a month’s worth of revenue to all docs, along with nurse practitioners and physician assistants. And the recently passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act gives HHS a path to provide this much-needed help with practices’ non-reimbursable expenses.
“The CARES Act permits the secretary to provide funding through a grant or other mechanism and we urge the department to provide immediate financial relief by issuing funds via the [Medicare Administrative Contractors],” they concluded. “We believe it will be expedient to administer, while also allowing proper oversight as funding would be based on Medicare claims data and utilize existing enrollment and payment protocols.”
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.