Advocacy & Practice Updates — Advocacy & Practice
Bipartisan Government Funding Bill Mitigates Most of the 2025 Medicare Physician Pay Cut
On December 17, Congressional negotiators released a government funding deal that includes partial mitigation of the scheduled 2.8% cut to Medicare physician payments in 2025. The deal funds the government through March 14, but provides a 2.5% increase to the Medicare physician fee schedule conversion factor through the entire 2025 calendar year. This means that physician pay will be cut by 0.3% from 2024 levels and not increase to reflect inflation, despite fierce advocacy by ASRS and the entire medical community.
Congress is expected to act quickly on this bill and the President is expected to sign it before the current funding expires on Friday.
While the lack of an inflationary update is disappointing, ASRS and the medical community will re-start advocacy efforts toward long-term payment reform in the New Year. Thank you to the hundreds of ASRS members and practice administrators who have participated in our advocacy campaigns this year. Your efforts have made a difference. As a result, key legislation, the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act, that would have provided inflation-based updates was introduced for the first time and leading policy experts like the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) (see story below) have joined our call for payment increases. We are well positioned for success in the new Congress.
(Published 12.17.24)