Dr. Karp, who is chief of the Rheumatic Diseases Division at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, worries that the 2022 reimbursement cuts will result in new and widespread access problems for Medicare patients. “The planned cuts in reimbursement for Medicare services will threaten the financial stability of rheumatology practices at a time when there are still pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic, which will hinder practices’ ability to grow to meet the increasing needs of older Americans.”
How the College Is Responding
“Only a literal act of Congress can avert these cuts,” Ms. McDaniel reiterates. She’s working with ACR leaders and other provider specialty groups, the Arthritis Foundation and other patient groups and broader medical community representatives, such as the American Medical Association to request legislation that will reduce the cuts. To this end, the ACR joined with coalition partners to request legislation from Congress to maintain the 3.75% increase to the conversion factor through at least calendar years 2022 and 2023 and to pursue critical MPFS reforms to avoid arbitrary reductions to reimbursement unrelated to the cost of providing care.
The ACR is also supporting physician members of Congress in asking Congressional leaders to act now to prevent the 9.75% in overall Medicare reimbursement cuts from taking effect Jan. 1, 2022, and maintain stable patient access to care.
What Every Rheumatologist Can Do
Dr. Solow says every rheumatologist’s voice is needed to explain to legislators how these historically significant cuts will negatively affect their practice and, most importantly, their patients.
“If our representatives do not hear from us, they may think we are doing well and will let these cuts go through. Every ACR member needs to reach out to Congress and let them know how these reimbursement rate cuts will threaten our ability to care for our patients and will also risk our ability to recruit new physicians into the field of rheumatology.”
Contact your legislators directly to explain how the 9.75% cut in Medicare reimbursement will hurt your practice and your patients.
Carina Stanton is a freelance science journalist based in Denver.
Reference
- Swagel PL. Letter to Honorable Kevin McCarthy, Republican Leader, U.S. House of Representatives, Re: Potential statutory pay-as-you-go effects of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Congressional Budget Office. 2021 Feb 25. https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2021-02/57030-McCarthy.pdf.
