The House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to hold a hearing to examine Medicare payment rates for physicians, according to a June 15 report from Politico.
The Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee will meet to reexamine the 2015 Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, which overhauled the formula used to pay physicians under Medicare when it was passed.
While CMS updates payments every year, any update has to be budget neutral, which has yielded smaller payments to physicians.
Timothy Babineau, MD, principal at ECG Management Consultants, told Becker's one of his biggest healthcare concerns right now is the "continued downward pressure on reimbursement rates across all government and commercial payers even as hospital margins disappear. In addition, given the severe shortage of mental and behavioral health providers (all disciplines) in this country, there needs to be a recalibration of reimbursement rates for these professionals."
Last fall, CMS cut payment rates by 4 percent for 2023. Later, the rule was amended, but cuts still sat at 2 percent.