June 2, 2025

Act Now! Protect Medicaid and the Physician Workforce

IMA is involved in several efforts to help mitigate the impact of the recently passed House reconciliation bill that imposes significant cuts to Medicaid. Even if you have engaged in the IMA's texting campaign you can still take new action to ensure the voice of medicine is heard. Click the "Take Action" button below to support AMA's Physician Grassroots Network and to urge Idaho's Senators to oppose these troublesome provisions.

Join the fight to preserve access to Medicaid and ACA coverage, protect medical education loan and forgiveness programs, and support long-term, inflation adjusted Medicare payment reform.

Idaho WWAMI Thanks IMA for Legislative Advocacy

The Idaho WWAMI program recently sent a letter of thanks to the IMA for its involvement in the fight to save WWAMI (see below).

The Idaho Medical Association is proud of our long-standing history of advocacy for medical education and the powerful collective voice of our members. We extend our sincere thanks to the many IMA members who actively participated in the Save WWAMI effort; It truly takes all of us working together to achieve meaningful results.

Through the combined efforts of IMA, the Save WWAMI Coalition, and other grassroots advocates, the medical community successfully protected Idaho's longstanding relationship with the WWAMI program and its commitment to training exceptional medical professionals to serve our communities. Thank you for being part of this important work.

Idaho Board of Medicine Recognized as a 2025 Wellbeing First Champion

The Idaho Board of Medicine was recently recognized by the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation as a 2025 Wellbeing First Champion. This recognition means that the Board's licensing applications remain free of intrusive mental health questions, and that the Board is committed to communicating to Idaho physicians on an ongoing basis that it is safe to seek mental health care.

The Wellbeing First Champion Challenge program supports licensure boards, hospitals and health systems in auditing and changing their applications, forms and addendums to be free of intrusive mental health questions and stigmatizing language -- questions which may prevent healthcare workers from seeking support and increase the risk of suicide.

IMA applauds the Idaho Board of Medicine for its commitment to the wellbeing of Idaho physicians. For more information on recovery and wellness resources, CLICK HERE.

"The Physician Bottleneck"

IMA Member Perry Brown, MD, Featured on The Ranch Podcast

Dr. Perry Brown is the program director for the Full Circle Health pediatric residency in the Treasure Valley. In this interview, Dr. Brown proposes solutions to bolster the physician workforce in Idaho, including the importance of residency training and fellowship sub-specialty training opportunities, and elements of a practice environment that attract talent to our state. Dr. Brown emphasizes the need for collaborative, respectful discussion on divisive issues impacting workforce shortages. To view a quick highlight clip, CLICK HERE.

The Ranch Podcast, hosted by Eagle resident Matt Todd, is conversational and informative, encompassing a broad spectrum of topics in a non-confrontational format that invites viewers to hear from speakers with varying perspectives on issues impacting the daily lives of Idahoans. Audio-only episodes are available through Apple Podcast and Spotify.

AMA Urges CMS to Correct $1 Billion Medicare Payment Error Tied to G2211 Utilization Miscalculation

The American Medical Association (AMA) has formally requested that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rectify a significant error in the 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule that could impact physician reimbursement by as much as $1 billion. The issue stems from an overestimated projection regarding the use of the new billing code G2211, which CMS introduced to reflect the complexity inherent in certain office visits.

In a letter to CMS, the AMA urged an adjustment to the 2026 Medicare conversion factor to account for a budgeting miscalculation that stemmed from faulty assumptions in CMS's 2024 final rule. CMS had originally projected that G2211 would be billed in 38% (blended) of all office visits (higher for primary care/lower for specialists). However, based on actual Medicare claims data from the first three quarters of 2024, the code was only reported with 10.5% of office visits. If the current trend holds, total 2024 utilization is expected to be just 11.2%— less than a third of the original estimate.

This substantial disparity has direct consequences for physician payment. CMS applied a 2.18% budget neutrality adjustment to account for the anticipated cost of G2211 utilization when finalizing the 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. In reality, the much lower use of G2211 indicates that the adjustment should have been closer to 0.79%. As a result, physician reimbursement was reduced more sharply than necessary— by an estimated $1 billion. "The excessive reduction in physician payments was based on flawed assumptions," the AMA argued in its letter. "This miscalculation will perpetuate financial strain on physicians and health systems unless CMS takes corrective action in the upcoming 2026 payment rule."

The AMA is calling on CMS to correct this error by adjusting the 2026 conversion factor accordingly, which would help restore air compensation and address the unintended budgetary imbalance. Without this fix, physicians could continue to face lower reimbursements based on outdated utilization projections, potentially affecting patient access and practice sustainability. The issue underscores the importance of CMS using real-time claims data when implementing and adjusting policies that have far-reaching implications for the U.S. healthcare system. The IMA will continue to closely monitor this issue and provide updates once CMS responds.