We Need Your Support: Stop the Medicare Cuts to Providers!
On August 3, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) proposed rule. In the 2020 final PFS rule, and again in the 2021 proposed rule, CMS included substantial reductions in payment to more than three dozen health care provider specialties, effective January 1, 2021. The cuts were proposed in order to maintain budget neutrality while increasing payment for office-based evaluation and management visit codes, also called E/M codes, that primary care and some specialty health professionals use to bill for their services.
In particular, physician SNF visits; physical and occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology services; as well as portable x-ray services under Medicare Part B are slated for cuts between 6 and 11 percent. These cuts on top of the current economic crisis are unsustainable and will result in reduced access to care as fewer of these professionals will seek to care for this vulnerable population.
Please contact your Members of Congress to ask them to reach out to both Secretary Alex Azar and CMS Administrator Seema Verma and ask them to postpone implementation of these harmful cuts within their authority. We also ask that Congress waive the budget neutrality requirements stipulated in Section 1848(c)(2) of the Social Security Act before the final E/M code proposal is implemented on January 1, 2021.
This much-needed action by Congress, for inclusion in any forthcoming legislative package, will provide a critical reprieve for a broad scope of health care professionals facing substantial payment reductions in the coming months.
