Advocacy News

Committee action in the House and Senate this week focused on Medicare, with hearings on Academy priorities to improve patient access to care, including policies to reform prior authorization and update the Medicare physician payment system.

As policymakers look to drive new payment models, the Academy outlined how we believe the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services can make new payment models accessible to medical specialties like ophthalmology.

We are working with Congress to fix Medicare’s broken payment system, highlighting the need to fix a physician payment program that fails to account for inflation and increasing practice costs.

Cigna’s action means that providers will not have to submit medical records to comply with the insurer’s now-delayed policy.

The latest meeting to challenge payment of global period post-operative visits stressed the complexity of medical decision-making.

After sharing how this burdensome new policy will harm practices and patients, the insurer agreed to delay the requirement’s effective start date.

This unusual move by MedPAC, which advises Congress, signals growing awareness of the need for Medicare payment reform.  

We pushed CMS to release the rule, which would reduce the cost of this important bill to entice Senate action by the end of the year.  

We shared several ideas on how to reform physician payment to address both the growing number of annual cuts you face and long-term stability for the Medicare system.  

Several of the Academy’s congressional champions and Visionary Award winners want you to tell them how Congress can protect physician payments.