November 1, 2024
Washington, DC – The publication of the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule today leaves in place proposed physician fee cuts for 2025 and in fact bumps them slightly higher, to 2.93 percent, as a result of other changes in the fee schedule. “We are disappointed,” said Susan Dentzer, President and CEO of America’s Physician Groups. “Any action to blunt the crippling effect of the fee cuts will now be the responsibility of Congress.”
As widely reported, inflation-adjusted Medicare physician fees have fallen by 29 percent since 2001 due to fee schedule changes and the lack of a full update for medical practice inflation. APG looks forward to working with congressional policymakers in the coming weeks and months to shape plans for moderating the proposed fee cut, and ideally, eliminating it altogether.
Other aspects of the final MPFS rule are far more favorable for physician practices and APG member organizations, APG noted. “We welcome such measures as allowing eligible Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) with a history of success in the Medicare Shared Savings Program, including many of our member groups, to receive advances on their earned shared savings,” Dentzer said. Also beneficial will be new coding and payment policies for advanced primary care management services that, as CMS noted, will constitute a new pathway to accountable care built into the fee schedule, and will help to increase the number of smaller physician practices committed to value-based care.
APG will host a Learning Session Webinar on Wednesday, November 20, 3:00-4:00 pm ET, about the Final Rule. Interested parties may register for the webinar here.
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About America’s Physician Groups
America’s Physician Groups is a national association representing approximately 360 physician groups with approximately 170,000 physicians providing care to nearly 90 million patients. APG’s motto, “Taking Responsibility for America’s Health,” represents our members’ commitment to clinically integrated, coordinated, value-based health care in which physician groups are accountable for the costs and quality of patient care. Visit us at www.apg.org.
Contact: Jennifer Salopek, APG Vice President of Communications, jsalopek@apg.org or (703) 909-9059
