by AJ Riviezzo
Sadly, that is NOT what is happening.
While the government and the public are well aware of the cost of goods and services increasing over the past years, apparently physicians should bear the burden while being paid less and less by Medicare and the commercial payers. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is expecting the cost of delivering care to increase by 3.5% in 2025. They will, however, be decreasing reimbursement by 2.8% during that same time period.
This marks the fifth consecutive year of payment cuts for physicians. It is the cap on what has been two decades of declining reimbursement. What the general public (and Congress it appears) does not understand is that commercial reimbursement is typically tied directly to Medicare reimbursement. That being so, it is two decades of decreasing commercial reimbursement as well.
The AMA is lobbying to at least stop the cuts for 202M5. There is legislation before the House at this moment. Given the recent difficulties in funding core government activities, I am not optimistic that anything that could be construed as an increase in government expenses has a hope in passing.
All of that being said, it is becoming ever more critical that the physician voices start being heard. Reach out directly to your Congressional representatives about the costs of rendering quality care and the need for automatic cuts to stop. Work with the AMA if you are a member. We are being priced out of the market between inflation for goods and services coupled with decreasing payments for our services.
We as individuals, we as various societies like the AVLS, we as part of the overall health care community need to make noise – something most of us are not good at. I will be sending a template of a letter in the near future that you can modify and send to your representatives in the government.