The House has introduced a new funding bill to keep the government running through Sept. 30, but notably missing is a fix to the 2.83% cut to Medicare physician reimbursement.
While the stopgap bill does include other healthcare provisions, physicians and advocacy groups are disappointed with the lack of a “doc fix” provision.
The proposed spending package “locks in a devastating fifth consecutive year of Medicare cuts, threatening access to care for 66 million Medicare patients,” Bruce Scott, MD, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement. “Lawmakers are once again ignoring the dire consequences of these cuts and their impact both on patients and the private practices struggling to keep their doors open.”
American Society of Anesthesiologists President Donald Arnold, MD, echoed Dr. Scott’s sentiments in a March 10 news release shared with Becker’s.
“On behalf of the nation’s anesthesiologists, I am extremely disappointed in the lack of a ‘doc Fix’ in the funding package released over the weekend,” Dr. Arnold wrote. “Every day our highly skilled anesthesiologists, whether involved in anesthesia, critical care or pain medicine services, provide safe, high-quality care to tens of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries. Yet, right now, these physicians are again the subject of a punitive payment cut. The current cut, which went into effect on January 1, 2025, is more than 2%, not factoring in inflation.”
“Adjusted for inflation, Medicare payments to anesthesiologists are about half of what they were in 1991. Congress must fix this broken and unsustainable system. The first thing they can do is stop the current cut before it continues any longer and the vehicle to do that is the government funding bill or continuing resolution. Congress, please act.”
