In July 2022, AHCA/NCAL signed a Physician Fee Schedule (PFS)
coalition letter to Congress with 103 other physician and provider organization to request relief from significant Medicare Part B payment cuts expected to be implemented on January 1, 2023. Recently, CMS published the CY 2023 Medicare PFS
proposed rule that would cut the Medicare conversion factor, which is the base rate for all Part B PFS services, by 4.42 percent. The PFS cuts would impact many services furnished to SNF and AL residents, including physician, physical and occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, clinical lab, portable x-ray, and others. The coalition letter asks for end-of-year legislation that includes:
- Adding 4.5% to the PFS conversion factor to offset the CMS proposed conversion factor cut.
- One-year inflationary Medicare economic index (MEI) update to the fee schedule.
- Waiver of statutory PAYGO requirements to avert an additional cut of about 4%.
AHCA/NCAL will continue supporting the coalition’s efforts to secure necessary relief before the end of the year.