Between 2018 and 2023, Medicare payments to physicians for gastrointestinal procedures such as colonoscopies and esophagogastroduodenoscopies declined significantly, with inflation-adjusted cuts of over 22% for both procedures, according to 2024 report in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
Here are four more things to know:
1. In contrast, reimbursements to ASCs and hospital outpatient departments either increased slightly or held steady during the same period, creating a widening financial gap between physician and facility payments.
2. While physician pay declined by about 6%, facility payments rose substantially, with ASC reimbursements increasing by more than 20% and HOPDs seeing similar gains.
3.The American Medical Association has connected these declining professional fees with a broader shift away from independent practice ownership, noting that the proportion of employed physicians rose from 42% in 2012 to 58% in 2024, according to a Medscape report.
4. Dipen Patel, MD, lead author of the study and a physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, told the publication that there is the need to raise awareness among early-career physicians who may not yet grasp the implications of Medicare reimbursement trends.
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