Here are five recent legislative and administrative updates in gastroenterology:
1. On Nov. 1, CMS finalized its 2025 physician payment rule, which includes a 94-cent (2.83%) conversion factor decrease from 2024. The physician fee schedule conversion factor for 2025 is $32.35, down from $33.29 in 2024, according to a Nov. 1 CMS news release. The American College of Gastroenterology is urging Congress to consider HR 10073, a bill that would reverse the final payment rule and create a positive payment adjustment for 2025.
2. GI providers are closely watching the Telehealth Modernization Act of 2024, which would extend telehealth flexibilities for Medicare beneficiaries set to expire at the end of 2024.
3. ACG urged Congress to support the Peggy Lillis C. difficile Inclusion Act, which would require that C. diff infections be added to the list of conditions monitored in the Nationally Notifiable Disease Surveillance System.
4. The Safe Step Act is another ACG-supported bill that currently has more than 260 co-sponsors between the House and Senate. The act would introduce reform for step-therapy protocols in Medicare, Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug plans.
5. A bipartisan group of legislators have also reintroduced the Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act, which would reform prior authorization requirements in Medicare Advantage plans. ACG has developed an advocacy tool to support this legislation.