New Medicare bill aims for comprehensive

Medicare physician payment reform 

On July 15, bipartisan, comprehensive legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would move Medicare physician payment reform in the right direction.The Patients First Act would modernize the Medicare physician payment system by:

• Creating a permanent, inflation-based annual payment update tied to the Medicare Economic Index (MEI) minus 1%;

• Fixing the current budget neutrality rules; an

• Reforming MIPS to reduce administrative burdens and give physicians more input on quality measures. 

Medicare physician payment reform is the AADA’s chief federal legislative priority, with the goal of replacing or eliminating budget neutrality as well as securing an annual inflationary update. While it is true that this bill may not give dermatologists everything we want, it does include improvements to budget neutrality and a permanent, inflation-based payment update tied to a portion of MEI, which both work hand in hand to improve the sustainability of private practices.

Securing a full repeal of budget neutrality and annual updates tied to inflation remains the Academy’s Medicare reform goal. The bill introduced today is a major step toward achieving that goal.

This legislation was introduced by physician champions in Congress including fellow AADA member Rep. John Joyce, MD, FAAD (R-PA), along with Reps. Kim Schrier, MD (D-WA), and Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC). We appreciate their leadership in protecting physician practices and patient access to care, and we applaud the collaboration with them in developing this comprehensive and vital legislation.

Your voice is critical to our success. Look for a grassroots alert from the AADA in the coming days.