Advocacy & Practice Updates — Advocacy & Practice
ASRS Op-Ed: Prevent Access Issues with Medicare Inflationary Adjustments
Late last week, The Hillpublished an op-ed by ASRS Federal Affairs Committee Chairman Michael Lai, MD, PhD, FASRS calling for legislative action to incorporate an inflationary adjustment into the Medicare physician fee schedule. Dr. Lai, also writing on behalf the Alliance of Specialty Medicine, explains that specialists across medicine were facing the same pressures from high inflation as other sectors of the economy. Rising wages are making it difficult for specialty practices to recruit and retain clinical staff—leading to shortened hours, closures of small or satellite offices and longer waits for patients—but stagnating Medicare rates prevent practices from overcoming these challenges. He notes that every other Medicare payment system incorporates inflationary adjustments and that Congress must modify the physician fee schedule so it will as well.
(Published June 29.22)