In a separate announcement last week, CMS said that overall Medicare payments to physicians and clinicians will be reduced by an average of 2.93% next year. The increase in payments to surgical centers mentioned above is the reason for the cuts in payments for physicians. Federal law requires that any payment increases be offset by equal cuts elsewhere in the program.
The announcement quickly resulted in calls by the American Medical Association (AMA) and other physician groups for Congress to change how Medicare sets payment rates. According to the AMA, when adjusted for inflation, Medicare payments to physicians have declined 29% from 2001 to 2024.
Bi-partisan legislation sponsored by Reps. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) and Ami Bera (D-Calif.) would remedy the situation. The bill (H.R. 2474) would give Medicare physicians an automatic annual pay increase, with the percentage based on a measure of inflation faced by physicians with respect to their practice costs and general wage levels.
Again, this issue is important to seniors since some physicians currently do not accept Medicare patients because of the low reimbursement rates. A continued reduction in those rates could result in an increasing number of physicians refusing to accept Medicare patients.
