August recess a key chance for doctors to press case on Medicare

Doctors can help fix Medicare in face-to-face visits with members of Congress this month. The AMA is giving them the tools to do it right.

By: Kevin B. O'Reilly, AMA Senior News Editor

What’s the news: The AMA is giving physicians across the country the resources they need to take advantage of the August recess to make face-to-face contact with their members of Congress to press the need to enact systemic Medicare physician payment reforms to protect older adults’ access to high-quality care.

While such an overhaul to Medicare’s unsustainable physician pay system is unlikely to happen during this election year, these important personal contacts with members of Congress can help shape legislative progress in 2025.

The AMA is leading the charge to?reform the Medicare payment system, which is the?AMA’s top advocacy priority.

Learn about how you can take part in the fight to fix Medicare on behalf of your patients and practices at the AMA's?Fix Medicare Now website, which includes an advocacy hub (registration required) where a one-hour webinar was posted last week. The webinar features expert insights on engaging with lawmakers during the August recess from David Lusk, the founder of Key Advocacy, and AMA Director of Congressional Affairs Jason Marino.?

During the webinar, Lusk detailed highlights from the AMA’s “2024 August Recess Engagement Toolkit” (PDF).

Among other things, the toolkit covers:

• Researching district locations of congressional offices.
• Requesting meetings and site visits with members of Congress.
• Sample scripts for contacting congressional offices and requesting a site visit or meeting.
• The congressional calendar for the rest of 2024.
• Capitalizing on informal interactions throughout the district.
• Tips for creating meaningful in-district engagements.
• Advocacy do’s and don’ts.

On that last point, the toolkit notes that one key thing is for physicians to “share a story or experience that involves constituents from the lawmaker’s state or legislative district.” In doing so, doctors should “be certain to note specifically how a policy will impact their constituents.”

Marino reinforced the point, saying that “we’re at a moment in time where it’s critical that members of Congress hear from their physician constituents back home about this.”

The Fix Medicare Now advocacy hub also includes a printable flier (PDF) to be displayed in hospital and practice waiting areas with a QR code that patients can use to easily visit the Fix Medicare Now site to learn more and take action.

Why it’s important

Physicians are facing a 2.8% cut in pay under the proposed 2025 Medicare physician payment schedule published last month. The proposal from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reinforced the clear need for systemic changes and follows a 1.69% Medicare pay cut in 2024 and 2% drop in 2023.

“Physician practices cannot continue to absorb rising costs while their payment rates dwindle,” AMA President Bruce A. Scott, MD, said when the proposal was released. “The death by a thousand cuts continues. Rural physicians and those treating underserved populations see this CMS warning as another reminder of the painful challenges they face in keeping their practices open and providing care.?It’s crucial that we ensure both continue.”

Read more from Dr. Scott on this in his recent AMA Leadership Viewpoints column, “Medicare physician payment reform has never been more urgent.”

As he noted there, Medicare physician payment effectively?declined?(PDF) 29% from 2001 to 2024 after adjusting for inflation and even before accounting for the newly proposed cut.

It’s widely acknowledged by the experts that chronically inadequate Medicare payment rates will eventually take a toll on older adults’ access to high-quality care.

Many members of Congress from both parties have seen the need for comprehensive change, and they introduced the bipartisan?Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act, H.R. 2474. That?legislation would give physicians?an annual, permanent inflationary payment update in Medicare tied to the Medicare Economic Index. In July, the AMA and over 125 medical associations pushed for congressional action on physician payment.?

?? Read the full article ?? to learn more.

Fix Medicare now

• Guide: Learn Medicare basics
• Data: Physician payment not keeping up with inflation
• Podcast: Trends in Medicare reimbursement audits
• Video: Medicare advocacy progress report

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