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- Pathologists Encourage Congress to Prioritize Medicare Payment Reform
The CAP sent out an Action Alert to its grassroots advocacy network encouraging outreach to their legislators to sign a Dear Colleague letter to House leadership that emphasized the urgent need of Medicare physician payment reform.
Last week, Reps. Ami Bera, MD (D-CA), Larry Bucshon, MD (R-IN), and over 90 members of Congress sent that bipartisan letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). In the letter, the lawmakers called for reforms to the Medicare Access and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) Reauthorization Act (MACRA) that appropriately pay providers for health outcomes. While the goal of MACRA was to shift the Medicare payment system to one that pays providers based on quality, value and the results of care delivered rather than the number of services provided, it has been plagued with issues since 2015.
This letter builds off the congressional request for information these bipartisan lawmakers issued last September, soliciting feedback from stakeholders to update the physician Medicare payment program. It also comes shortly after the first MACRA oversight hearing held by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on June 22.
Grassroots advocacy is at the root of driving change at the federal and state level on health care policies that will impact pathologists’ ability to practice and protect the patients they serve. Learn more about CAP’s grassroots advocacy network, PathNET.