Thread by @MarilynHeineMD

🧵A bipartisan pair of congressional physicians ⁦@RepBera⁩ ⁦@RepLarryBucshon⁩ is leading a major effort urging House leadership
@GOPLeader⁩ ⁦@SpeakerPelosi
to avert impending #Medicare payment cuts that add up to a reduction of nearly 10% effective Jan. 1.

2/ More than 245 other representatives from both parties in a letter asking House leadership to provide financial sustainability for physicians and help maintain access to care.

Read: bera.house.gov/sites/bera.hou…

3/ The letter states: “We must act before the end of the year to avert the imminent cuts,” which should include extending the 3.75% Medicare physician fee schedule pay adjustment. Such a move would “provide continued stability for physicians and other health care professionals.”

4/ “Otherwise, the profound exhaustion from the pandemic combined with the stress of uncertainty in payments may lead to further retirements, office closures, or reduced staffing, ultimately limiting patient access to care,” the letter adds.

5/ 🎇 Physicians are facing an array of payment cuts totaling ~10%, which will further strain physicians & their practices & could impede patients’ access to care. These include:

👉 Expiration of the current reprieve from the 2% sequester stemming from Budget Control Act of 2011

6/ 👉 Imposition of a 4% statutory pay-as-you-go sequester resulting from passage of the American Rescue Plan Act, presumably for at least another 10 years.

7/ 👉 Expiration of the congressionally enacted 3.75% temporary increase in the Medicare physician fee schedule (PFS) conversion factor to avoid pay cuts associated with budget-neutrality adjustments tied to PFS policy changes.

8/ 👉 A statutory freeze in annual #Medicare PFS updates under Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) that is scheduled to last until 2026, when updates resume at a rate of 0.25%/year indefinitely — well below the rate of medical or consumer price index inflation.

9/ “As an internal medicine doctor by training, I know that cutting payments for physicians during this global pandemic will further strain our health care system and the ability for health care professionals to provide the best care for their patients,” @RepBera said.

10/ Both these physician legislators noted harm these cuts would cause.

“As a practicing surgeon for nearly 15 years, I believe that no doctor should have to worry about the uncertainty of looming reimbursement cuts while battling COVID-19 on the front lines,” @RepLarryBucshon.

11/ “Physicians are among the everyday heroes keeping our families healthy, our communities out of harm’s way, and our livelihoods protected during this pandemic. Now is not the time to ask them to take a reimbursement cut,” @RepLarryBucshon.

12/ TY @CongBoyle @RepBrianFitz @CongressmanGT @RepMeuser @RepJohnJoyce @RepDwightEvans @RepDean @RepHoulahan @RepSusanWild @GReschenthaler @MikeKellyPA @RepConorLamb @mgs @USRepMikeDoyle @RepCartwright @RepFredKeller who signed the above letter. 👏👏We appreciate your support!