July 23, 2021
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker U.S. House of Representatives |
The Honorable Kevin McCarthy Republican Leader U.S. House of Representatives |
The Honorable Charles Schumer Majority Leader U.S. Senate |
The Honorable Mitch McConnell Republican Leader U.S. Senate |
Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leaders Schumer, McConnell, and McCarthy:
On behalf of the undersigned organizations, representing over one million physician and non-physician health care providers, thank you for your ongoing support for Medicare beneficiaries and the health care provider community. Congress’ willingness to ensure greater financial stability in the Medicare program for 2021 — by mitigating significant cuts generated within the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) via a 3.75% Conversion Factor (CF) increase for all services — avoided significant disruptions to care for Medicare beneficiaries, supported small health care businesses — especially in rural and underserved areas — and provided a lifeline for health care providers still reeling from the residual impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, this temporary measure did not address the ongoing structural problems with the MPFS, and the provider community is again bracing for steep cuts in 2022, which could result in many beneficiaries losing timely access to essential health care services. To avoid this scenario, our organizations urge Congress to maintain the 3.75% increase to the CF through at least calendar years 2022 and 2023.