Advocacy & Practice Updates — Advocacy & Practice
ASRS President to OMB: Stop Proposed Modifier 25 Cuts
This week, ASRS President Geoffrey G. Emerson, MD, PhD, FASRS, traveled to Washington, D.C. to represent ASRS at a meeting with the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) opposing CMS’ proposed cuts when Modifier -25 is appended to an E/M service reported on the same day as a minor procedure. Joining a coalition of specialists across medicine who routinely provide in-office care of a minor procedure and an E/M, Dr. Emerson explained to policymakers the potential negative impact this proposal would have on retina patients who may not receive timely access to sight-saving care.
“Traveling to Washington to represent ASRS and my patients has been a powerful experience,” said Dr. Emerson, “This opportunity has allowed me to explain the care I provide at home and demonstrate directly to decisionmakers how their actions affect patients. If they allow this policy to go forward, millions of patients may lose access to what we know is the best care and may suffer poorer outcomes.”
OMB plays a key role in reviewing agency policy to ensure it aligns with administration goals and can prevent CMS from going forward with unacceptable proposals. Dr. Emerson and other members of the “Same Day Care” coalition noted that CMS’ proposed cuts would hurt elderly patients in rural areas most significantly—particularly if they were vision impaired—if they had to travel long distances to multiple doctors’ appointments to receive care that could have been provided during one visit.
Further coalition meetings with CMS and the White House Office of Domestic Policy on this topic are planned for this coming week.
While ASRS fights this proposal in Washington, D.C., you can join in from home. Click the link below to send an instant, pre-written message to your U.S. Representative and Senators asking them to contact CMS and urge them not to finalize this proposal. Even if you’ve already sent a comment to CMS opposing the proposal, you can also send this message.
Editing the message to reflect your own experience will help make it more powerful. Click the “pencil” icon to add your own details. Contact Allison Madson, vice president of health policy, if you need assistance.
(Published 8.25.26)