The American Medical Association said CMS' proposed physician payment rule for 2023 will create long-term financial instability in the Medicare physician payment system and threaten patient access to Medicare-participating physicians.
CMS released the proposed rule July 7. The proposed physician fee schedule conversion factor for 2023 is $33.08, down from $34.61 in 2022. The proposal considers a statutory requirement that the conversion factor for 2023 remain flat as well, due to the expiration of the 3 percent increase in physician fee schedule reimbursement payments in 2022 that was required in the Protecting Medicare and American Farmers From Sequester Cuts Act.
Jack Resneck Jr., MD, president of the American Medical Association, said in a July 7 news release the proposal fails to account for inflation in practice costs and COVID-related challenges to practice sustainability. He also said the "significant and damaging across-the-board reduction in payment rates" threaten patient access to Medicare-participating physicians.
"We will be working with Congress to prevent this harmful outcome," Dr. Resneck said in the news release.