The American Medical Association (AMA) and the American College of Physicians (ACP) issued responses to the new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) physician fee schedule for 2022. Although there is praise for certain elements of the more than 2,400-page rule, there is some consternation as well.
According to AMA president Gerald Harmon, MD, the rule “is a reminder of the financial peril facing physician practices at the end of the year. The final rule includes a reduction in the 2022 Medicare conversion factor of about 3.85%. The AMA is strongly advocating for Congress to avert this and other looming cuts to Medicare physician payments that, overall, will produce a combined 9.75% cut for 2022.”
The American College of Physicians (ACP) released a statement voicing similar concerns about cuts to physician payments and calling on Congress to prevent them.
ACP was pleased with the rule’s allowance for a four-year transition period to phase in changes to practice expenses for clinical labor pricing and extensions for using telehealth services that were added temporarily during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The organization also voiced praise for the inclusion of four pathways relevant to internal medicine in the MIPS Value Pathway options for 2023 under the Quality Payment Program, including Optimizing Chronic Disease Management.
Sources: American College of Physicians press release, November 3, 2021; American Medical Association press release, November 3, 2021.