Congress averted a government shutdown for now but opted not to halt the 3.37% Medicare pay cut hitting physician practices this year.
Congress had the opportunity to halt the pay cut as part of the omnibus appropriations bill, which has a Jan. 19 deadline. Congress voted on a continuing resolution Jan. 18 to avoid a government shutdown and fund four appropriations bills through March 1 and another eight through March 8.
But Congress did not reverse the pay cuts that went into effect Jan. 1.
"We are disappointed that Congress chose not to stop serious Medicare cuts for physician services in the temporary CR," Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, president of the American Medical Association, said in a Jan. 18 news release. "Failure to reverse these cuts will create access issues for patients and small, independent physician practices, especially those in rural and underserved areas."
Dr. Ehrenfeld pointed out physicians are the only healthcare providers who had a pay cut this year and face a 10% reduction from the last four years. Physicians do not receive pay adjustment for inflation based on the Medicare Economic Index like hospitals and other healthcare professionals do; the AMA pointed out in a recent report that if the physician fee schedule were on the same formula as other healthcare professionals, they would have seen a 4.6% pay increase this year.
Congress can still remove the pay cuts in future actions.
"We recognize that Congress' work is far from done and urge lawmakers to reverse these cuts at the soonest opportunity," Dr. Ehrenfeld said.