Congress appropriated billions of dollars in additional funding over two years to avoid cuts to Medicare payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Provider groups last year successfully lobbied lawmakers to delay a 4.5% Medicare payment reduction until 2023.
The 4.5% across-the-board rate reduction, which the CMS attributes to budget neutrality requirements, is now slated to begin Jan. 1. Combined with a 4% Medicare sequester cut that also had been paused, the reductions would force physician practices to close and put further strain on those that remain open, AMA President Jack Resneck said in a statement after the rule was finalized.
