AdvaMed: New Rule Out of CMS Cuts Physician Payments, Will Decrease Patient Access to Care
WASHINGTON, D.C. – AdvaMed released the following statement from President and CEO Scott Whitaker regarding the final Physician Fee Schedule rule released yesterday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS):
“The unfortunate effect of the physician payment cuts made by this rule will be a decrease in patient access to high-quality care, especially in rural and underserved areas, and possibly even the shuttering of clinic doors altogether, and it will undermine doctors’ ability to effectively serve their Medicare patients. We look forward to working with Congress to address this threat to patient care.”
The rule calls for cuts to Medicare payments for services that include high-cost supplies and equipment, such as those used for vascular surgery, radiation oncology, interventional radiology, and diagnostic testing facilities—cuts that do not reflect actual declines in the cost of this equipment and supplies. Physicians providing these services will face significant decreases in payment rates because of a budget neutrality requirement that cuts reimbursement for practice expenses to offset an increase in reimbursement for clinical labor. AdvaMed supports updating clinical labor pricing but believes the resulting reimbursement cuts for equipment and supplies are completely out of step with physicians’ real-world costs.
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AdvaMed member companies produce the medical devices, diagnostic products and digital health technologies that are transforming health care through earlier disease detection, less invasive procedures and more effective treatments. AdvaMed members range from the largest to the smallest medical technology innovators and companies. For more information, visit www.advamed.org.