Get Informed: CMS Cuts Jeopardize Patient Access to Specialty Care
Thursday, August 26 | 8:00 PM EDT
On July 13, Medicare issued the proposed 2022 Physician Fee Schedule for Part B services, known as the Part B Proposed Rule. The American Venous and Lymphatic Society (AVLS) Advocacy Committee has begun its review of the more than 1,700-page regulation. Comments from constituents are due by September 13, 2021. CMS will then review and update their Part B payment model and specialty impacts.
The Proposed Rule indicates that “the potential effects of the clinical labor pricing update on specialty payment impacts are largely driven by the share that labor costs represent of the direct PE inputs for each specialty. Specialties with a substantially lower or higher than average share of direct costs attributable to labor would experience significant declines or increases, respectively, if this proposal is finalized. For example, the Family Practice specialty has a higher share of direct costs associated with clinical labor, and payments to services comprising the specialty would be expected to increase as a result of this clinical labor pricing update. In contrast, Diagnostic Testing Facilities have a lower share of direct costs that are associated with clinical labor, and payments to services comprising the specialty would be expected to decrease.”
The AVLS Advocacy Committee will host an informational webinar about the Proposed 2022 Payment Rule on Thursday, August 26 at 8:00 PM EDT.
FYI – This session is free and the webinar will be restricted to AVLS Members only. Subsequent information will be available to the public.
Register Here
How Can You Make a Difference?
1. Inform Yourself & Others
Learn more about what the CMS proposal means for your practice. Read more about the proposal and the AVLS Strategy online. Attend the AVLS advocacy webinar and share with your colleagues about these changes and how they can also get involved.
2. Invest in the Cause
Along with other partner specialties, AVLS is mobilizing to protect patient access and fair payment, but it will take significant resources to be successful. We are executing now on both a regulatory front and a legislative front, but our efforts will require urgent funding that is above and beyond normal member dues. Your contribution will directly fund Federal emergency advocacy efforts to defend fair payment and patient access to care.
3. Get Involved
Contact your Congress representatives about this issue. Post this issue in all your office reception rooms and encourage your patients to also contact their representatives. Discuss this issue with your patients if the opportunity presents itself. This is a critical patient access issue and so it is right to discuss, especially with your Medicare patients! Attend a district Town Hall to raise your concerns. Best of all, call and request a 20-minute-or-so meeting in the Representative’s district office with the member and their staff.
This notice posted with permission from the American Venous and Lymphatic Society.
