Doctors Disappointed as Medicare Cuts Go Into Effect

Despite a broad push from physicians, the 3.37% cut to the 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule was not included in the most recent continuing resolution passed by the US Congress to keep the government funded. The fee cut is now affecting practitioners nationwide.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) published a statement this week highlighting its disappointment in the US government for failing to ease the growing financial burden on physicians. The Preserving Seniors’ Access to Physicians Act of 2023 (HR 6683) is still in committee: it would eliminate the 3.37% cut that the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently enacted to its 2024 Physician Fee Schedule.

“Less than 3 weeks into the new year, Congress has already left clinicians holding the bag again on Medicare payment reform. By not including a fix to the 3.37% cut to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule in the most recent continuing resolution, practices around the country are left in a state of uncertainty for their own futures, as well as patient access to care,” said ACC President B. Hadley Wilson, MD (Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute, Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC), in a press release. “While it is critical that Congress was able to pass a continuing resolution, offering certainty for many vital services, I am disappointed that clinicians and patients within Medicare will continue to be left out and left behind.”

To TCTMD, Wilson acknowledged the now annual nature of physician advocacy groups pushing back against Congress to stave off reimbursement cuts. “Medicare physician payments have dropped by 26% in the last 20 years while practice expenses on average have risen by 47% over the same period while controlling for inflation,” he said. “This is becoming a very acute and painful issue for physicians and practices. . . . It's going to limit new Medicare patients, it's going to reduce charity care, reduce clinical staff. They are going to have to look at their offices and limit office times or close satellite locations.”

The Preserving Seniors’ Access to Physicians Act of 2023 is still on the table, as is the Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act of 2023 (HR 2474), which would tie the annual physician payment update to inflation as measured by the Medicare Economic Index. Wilson urged physicians to write to their congressional leaders to encourage them to support these bills.

“There is no question that ACC and our partner medical societies are all into long-term reforms to the Medicare system,” Wilson said. “We advocate for the short-term fix, but we want to advocate for not having to use these short-term fixes and to focus on advancing long-term reforms to stabilize the Medicare reimbursement system.”