Here are five leaders' thoughts on three recent CMS moves shaping the industry:
The good
CMS has proposed maintaining the waiver of geographic and originating site restrictions related to telehealth through the end of 2024. The waiver allows Medicare beneficiaries to connect with physicians anywhere in the U.S. from home, according to a Sept. 29 article on the American Medical Association's website.
"The COVID-19 PHE clearly demonstrated the value of telehealth services and, more broadly, of digitally enabled medical care combining in-person, virtual, remote monitoring and other service modalities to deliver care that meets patient needs," AMA Executive Vice President and CEO James Madara, MD, said in a letter to CMS.
CMS recently passed a Stark law update that will allow hospitals and healthcare providers to improve mental health services for physicians.
"The recent exemption in the Stark law for health systems and hospitals to be able to provide mental health services to physicians is what I have my eye on," Joseph Sewards, MD, chair of orthopedic surgery and sports medicine at Philadelphia-based Temple University, told Becker's. "I don't know of any hospital that was withholding those essential services for fear of violating Stark, but anything that removes any barriers to access mental health services for physicians is a huge step."
The bad
1. CMS has floated a 3.34 percent conversion factor decrease in its proposed Medicare physician fee schedule for 2024. Here is what three physicians had to say:
"People wonder why our healthcare system is in such a turmoil. Poor access to doctors, and emergency rooms are so overcrowded with trivial problems. Who wants to go into medicine when your reimbursement goes down every year?" Sheldon Taub, MD, gastroenterologist at Jupiter (Fla.) Medical Center, told Becker's. "I pay more for my plumber or electrician than I make per hour. Also, the restrictions are becoming unbearable. And don't forget the underlying fear of malpractice. Our healthcare system is a travesty, and I have to blame much of it on the government. Big business is running medicine, and that's a shame."
"The CMS proposed fee schedule proposing a cut in the conversion factor by 3.34 percent seems extremely discouraging for all physicians/providers," Arunab Mehta, MD, assistant professor of clinical in the department of internal medicine at the University of Cincinnati, told Becker's. "Physician practices and hospitals are already struggling financially in 2022 and 2023. Physicians have gone through a few stressful years related to the pandemic, have high levels of student loans due to expensive medical education and come out of training in their mid-30s and have pay go down over 26 percent in the last two decades, making things extremely difficult."
"The looming CMS physician pay cuts could have varying effects on the ASC industry. I have always been impressed with the resiliency of health professionals, and I am confident that the health industry will respond to the current pressures to evolve to an improved delivery system," Paula Autry, CEO of Grass Lake, Mich.-based Leadership DNAmics, told Becker's. "Declining physician pay, combined with higher costs, will affect the entire industry. Related to ASCs, it may cause physicians to seek employment with health systems and/or reconsider investment in ASCs. ASCs will likely continue to increase given that they can assist with hospital capacity issues, and they remain a high value alternative to inpatient surgery when appropriate."