APTQI, Provider Groups Urge Congress to Stop January 1 Medicare Cuts
Since Medicare finalized the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) for calendar year (CY) 2022, specialty provider groups—including APTQI—have pushed for a Congressional solution to looming cuts in order to help avoid significant disruptions to providers and care for Medicare beneficiaries.
As part of that effort, APTQI signed on to a letter to Congressional leaders, urging them to extend the 3.75% payment adjustment through at least CY 2022 before it expires on December 31. In a November 29 letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Ranking Member Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), hundreds of groups stress the need to ensure seniors’ timely access to essential health care services. The letter praised Congress for implementing the temporary 3.75% payment adjustment, which helped provide a vital lifeline to providers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and urged lawmakers to quickly extend it.
Recognizing the need to act, lawmakers in the House, led by Representatives Ami Bera (D-CA) and Larry Bucshon (R-IN), introduced a bipartisan bill to extend the 2021 Medicare physician payment adjustment of 3.75% for an additional year. This legislation, the Supporting Medicare Providers Act of 2021 (H.R. 6020), would be an important first step to easing the impact of payment cuts to physical, occupational, and speech therapy.
“With the legislative calendar waning, we urge Congress to make a critical investment in the nation’s health care delivery system by embracing swift action to address the imminent cuts to Medicare payments by extending the 3.75% payment adjustment through at least CY 2022. Maintaining this level of funding will provide much-needed stability for physician and non-physician providers, as well as their patients, and provide an opportunity for renewed discussions regarding long-term systemic reforms in the New Year. We remain committed to partnering with Congress to identify and advance these critical reforms and appreciate your continued support of the health care providers on whom older Americans rely,” the organizations wrote to Congressional leadership.
In addition to APTQI, over 270 organizations representing over one million physician and non- physician health care providers signed the letter, including the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA).
To read the text of the letter, CLICK HERE.