SNMMI Urges Congress to Avert Cuts to Physician Reimbursement

October 15, 2021

Yesterday, SNMMI and over 200 medical societies espoused their support for averting the cuts to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). Reps. Bera (D-CA) and Buschon (R-IN) led this effort in the following "Dear Colleague" letter to House leadership, supported by 245 members of Congress. SNMMI, along many of its sisters societies, including the American College of Radiology (ACR), was instrumental in engaging members of Congress to support this effort. The Society also has its own letter writing campaign, which may be found here. SNMMI members, patient advocates, and concerned citizens are encouraged to send a letter of support to avert the looming physician reimbursement cuts.

The MPFS has failed to keep up with inflation and larger increases to some providers must be offset by cuts to other providers, due to a budget neutrality provision in statute, further contributing to the financial pressure on health care professionals. Additionally, health care professionals are facing imminent payment cuts stemming from MPFS adjustments as well as the Medicare sequester and the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Act.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, enacted on December 27, 2020, contained a 3.75 percent payment adjustment for all PFS services in CY 2021 as part of the congressional relief provided for the impending payment cuts. This payment adjustment afforded some short-term stability for health care professionals struggling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This critical piece of congressional relief is expiring at the end of the calendar year and adds to impending cuts resulting from the expiring moratorium on the 2 percent Medicare sequester and the 4 percent Medicare payment cut due to PAYGO, which was triggered by the passage of the American Rescue Plan. The combined impact of the MPFS cut, Medicare sequester, and PAYGO means that all health care professionals are likely facing at least 9 percent in cuts to Medicare payment, unless Congress takes action.

Please encourage your member of Congress to take action by sending a customizable letter through this link.

A current version of the MPFS may be viewed here.