Last month, the Senate passed an end-of-year spending deal that provides modest relief to a 2023 Medicare physician fee schedule cut. The House is expected to pass the bill and send it to President Biden.

Effective Jan. 1, 2023, the Medicare conversion factor — the starting point for calculating physician payments — will be cut by just over 2 percent.

“While ASGE is grateful Congress is poised to provide some relief, it is disappointing lawmakers did not stop the full extent of the cut,” said ASGE President Bret Petersen, MD, MASGE.

In November, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized a 4.5 percent reduction to the conversion factor, the majority of which was due to the expiring positive payment adjustment first provided by Congress for 2021, and renewed for 2022, to prevent a payment cut due to changes in evaluation and management codes.

ASGE called on Congress to not stop short of preventing the full 4.5 percent cut. Ultimately, lawmakers decided to phase out the positive payment adjustment, even as physician payment rates have fallen behind rising medical inflation.

For 2023, Congress is on the cusp of providing a 2.5 percent positive adjustment. That adjustment will be halved in 2024. Even with that relief, physicians will still receive a payment cut next year, and likely in 2024 as well. The spending deal does push off the threat of an added 4 percent Medicare sequester for another two years.

“The Medicare physician payment system is broken,” said Dr. Petersen. “Next year ASGE commits to working with its partners in the medical community and congressional lawmakers to restore payment predictability, fairness and stability to physician practices.”

Medicare Physician Payment 2021-2024