Congress Must Act to Prevent Medicare Cuts
Conversion Factor Cut in Proposed Physician Fee Schedule Adds to Provider Burden
Alexandria, VA – AMGA urges Congress to stop Medicare cuts recently proposed in the CY 2023 Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule. A decrease in the conversion factor detailed in the rule could hinder the ability of healthcare providers to continue to deliver high-quality care to their patients. This potential change in Medicare payment, along with the 2% sequestration cuts and looming 4% Medicare PAYGO cuts, would adversely affect providers, who also are contending with dramatic increases in operational costs and staffing shortages.
“This cut in the conversion factor will put an additional strain on the healthcare system, which is already facing threats from seemingly all directions,” said AMGA President and CEO Jerry Penso, M.D., M.B.A. “COVID hasn’t gone away, sequestration cuts increased last week, and PAYGO cuts will kick in next year. In addition, the provider community is in the midst of an unprecedented healthcare workforce crisis. Unless Congress acts, the combination of these stressors will prove needlessly disruptive to AMGA members and their ability to care for their patients.”
As part of its proposed rule for 2023, CMS is proposing a conversion factor of $33.08, which is a decrease of $1.53 from the CY 2022 conversion factor of $34.61. As result, each physician service generally will be paid about 4% less in 2023 than in 2022.
“Providers are facing significant cuts in Medicare payments, along with staffing shortages and inflationary pressures that are hiking expenses to levels not seen in years,” Penso added. “At some point, this combination of hits to the system will impact care. There’s no way around it. We urge Congress to definitively address these cuts and stop this continual budgetary brinkmanship.”
AMGA is reviewing the proposed rule closely and will provide detailed comments.
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About AMGA
AMGA is a trade association leading the transformation of health care in America. Representing multispecialty medical groups and integrated systems of care, we advocate, educate, innovate, and empower our members to deliver the next level of high performance health. AMGA is the national voice promoting awareness of our members’ recognized excellence in the delivery of coordinated, high-quality, high-value care. More than 175,000 physicians practice in our member organizations, delivering care to one in three Americans.