Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Johnson, and Minority Leader Jeffries:
On behalf of the 54 organizations representing physicians and other health care providers across the United States, we write to urge Congress to stop the 3.4% cut in Medicare physician payment that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently finalized in the Calendar Year 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) final rule. The agency acknowledges in the final rule that, due to budget neutrality requirements, the majority of the cut is created by the decision to increase payments for primary care services through the creation of the new G2211 code.
We acknowledge policymakers’ desire for additional investments in primary care, however these increases are being paid for by an across-the-board cut to all clinicians. It is imperative that Medicare patients have access to the full range of essential health care services, including primary and specialty care. Further, clinicians are facing these cuts when they are expecting a 4.6% increase in medical practice cost inflation in 2024, as measured by the Medicare economic index.
Therefore, in the absence of long-term reform, Congress must stop the full 3.4% cut.
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