Doctors could see almost 3% Medicare cut in 2025
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Doctors could face a nearly 3% cut to their Medicare payments next year — even as Congress is weighing how to mitigate the last round of reimbursement cuts.
Why it matters: It's become an annual rite for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to announce a decrease in physician payments, and for lawmakers to swoop in with a year-end "doc fix" to ease the pain.
- That's because Medicare doesn't allow annual inflation adjustments to doctor payments like it does for other providers.
Zoom out: Bipartisan groups of lawmakers in both the Senate and House of Representatives have released policy ideas for solving this problem.
- Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told Axios Pro's Peter Sullivan in May that he'd push to include physician payment reform in a lame duck legislative package at the end of the year.
- But with competing priorities and cost concerns, it's unlikely Congress will be able to pull off a large-scale overhaul of the reimbursement system by then, Peter noted.
What they're saying: "The consecutive years of Medicare cuts demand a comprehensive legislative solution. Previous quick fixes have been insufficient — this situation requires a bold, substantial approach," Bruce Scott, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement.
- "A Band-Aid goes only so far when the patient is in dire need."
A voluminous physician payment rule released Wednesday proposed a slew of other policy changes for physician services.
- If finalized, Medicare could pay for audio-only telehealth services if a patient can't or won't use video technology.
- The rule would also expand the number of medically necessary dental procedures Medicare can cover and create a new payment system for advanced primary care services reflecting a patient's medical and social complexity.
