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    Join Your Colleagues: Urge Congress to Protect Physician Payment


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    Congress must act by Jan. 19 to extend the government’s funding and avert a shutdown: That gives all of medicine just two weeks to pressure lawmakers to provide relief for Medicare physician pay cuts that took effect Jan. 1.

    We need all of ophthalmology to speak up and urge Congress to include a fix for physician payment in any funding bill.

    It takes just a few minutes to make sure your legislators know where you stand on Medicare payment. Urge them to include HR 6683, a bill that would roll back the 3.4% cuts, in any must-pass legislation considered this month.

    The Academy is working with the American Medical Association, the Surgical Coalition and directly with ophthalmology’s champions in Congress. We want to ensure that any bill to fund the government beyond Jan. 19 also rolls back the 2024 Medicare payment cuts. If Congress fails to act, it puts patients’ access to sight-saving care at risk.

    Already, more than 350 of your colleagues have used the Academy’s online tool to contact more than 300 offices across 42 states. Help us ensure that legislators from every state get the message — and that each member of Congress hears from not just some but many constituents about the need for stable Medicare payment.

    As Rep. Kim Schrier, MD, D-Wash., told Academy members last month during an OPHTHPAC® Speaker Series event, many legislators grasp what’s at stake if Congress doesn’t provide fair Medicare payment. Nearly 200 House legislators signed a bipartisan letter to congressional leadership last month, urging action to avert the cuts.

    Even so, all members of Congress need to hear from you in this critical period. As the letter’s signers say, the cut follows three years of the same:

    “If Congress does not act, Medicare payments will have been cut by almost 10% in four years, which is simply unsustainable.” The signees also noted that physicians, alone among Medicare providers, do not receive any payment updates tied to inflation.

    You can also help the Academy maintain strong relationships with our champions in Congress by supporting the Academy’s OPHTHPAC political action committee. These relationships will be especially vital to the Academy’s efforts to pursue long-term Medicare payment reform and stability in the system.