The Medicare physician payment system is broken, requiring Congress to intervene to prevent steep cuts year after year. One flaw is that Medicare payments do not automatically receive an annual inflationary update. Medicare physician pay has eroded by 22% over the last two decades relative to inflation, and temporary patches to the Medicare physician payment system are not sustainable year after year.
Click here to go to neurosurgery’s Advocacy Action Center to contact Congress to co-sponsor the Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act (H.R. 2474), which would implement an annual Medicare physician payment update based on the Medicare economic index. A sample message, which can be personalized, is provided.
