Despite intense pressure from the entire healthcare provider community, Congress failed to include provisions in its year-end legislative package to fully prevent Medicare payment cuts that took effect Jan. 1.
The package—negotiated by congressional leadership—includes adjustments for the Medicare Conversion Factor (CF) for both 2023 (+2.5%) and 2024 (+1.25%) and postpones statutory “Pay Go” requirements to provide relief from an additional 4% reduction.
After accounting for these adjustments, both physician and non-physician clinicians should anticipate an across-the-board reduction of approximately 2% in Medicare payments for calendar year 2023, depending on services provided and any 2023 Relative Value Units (RVU) changes to those procedures. Additional reductions relating to year two of the clinical labor update policy transition will also apply, with a variable impact depending on practice type.
The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) expressed disappointment that lawmakers are allowing any payment reductions to remain in place, a sentiment shared across the provider community
