Cardiologists’ Holiday Wish: Medicare Pay Cuts Roasting on an Open Fire

As in Decembers past, the cardiology community is once again calling on Congress to stave off cuts to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedules that go into effect in 2024.

Annually, the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announces its Physician Fee Schedule (PFS), and for the past several years, cardiologists have protested cuts for the care or services they provide. Some have called for an overhaul of the whole system, which often results in advocacy groups scrambling for last-minute legislation to push off proposed cuts to reimbursement. This year is no different, with an impending 3.37% cut to the Medicare PFS next year.

“We have once again arrived at American clinicians’ annual holiday tradition: urging Congress to not allow cuts to Medicare services that exacerbate financial uncertainty for practices, further threaten patient access to care, and disproportionately impact America’s rural and senior populations,” said B. Hadley Wilson, MD (Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute, Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC), president of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), in a press release. “For decades we have spent December looking for a quick fix to a problem that requires significant reforms. We must seek and establish sustainable payment practices that allow clinicians to continue providing access to high-quality care. While addressing this upcoming cut is critical, it is a short-term adjustment that will not create a long-term solution. It is necessary to protect patients now while we work together on lasting reform.”

The ACC, as well as other medical groups like the American Medical Association (AMA), are urging members of Congress to pass the Preserving Seniors’ Access to Physicians Act of 2023 (HR 6683), proposed by Congressman Greg Murphy, MD, of North Carolina. This would eliminate the planned 3.37% Medicare cuts scheduled for January 1, 2024.

Last month, a total of 54 medical societies, including the ACC, the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI), and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), sent a joint letter to Congress demanding the full cut be dropped.

Because physicians, unlike other providers, don’t receive an automatic inflationary update within Medicare, a cut of this magnitude would be detrimental for most, especially given the current rate of inflation growth. “Medicare physician payments have dropped by 26% in the last 20 years, while practice expenses have risen by 47% over the same period,” according to the ACC.

“Continuing down this road is unsustainable,” said AMA President Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH (Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN), in an AMA press release. “These cuts will be felt first and hardest in rural and underserved areas that continue to face significant healthcare access challenges.”

That said, Ehrenfeld continued, “as Kate McCallister famously said in Home Alone, ‘This is Christmas—the season of perpetual hope.’ . . .  We urge lawmakers to act quickly, preserve Medicare access, and pass this vital legislation.”