Dear Senator Paul:
On behalf of the undersigned organizations representing surgeons across the United States, we
would like to express our strong support for the Medicare Reimbursement Equity Act of 2020.
Surgeons across the country are struggling with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
— and are bracing for harmful Medicare physician payment cuts that could jeopardize patient
access to medically necessary services. These cuts are scheduled to take effect on
January 1, 2021, and are as a result of new payment increases for office and outpatient visits —
also known as evaluation and management (E/M) codes — that, due to statutory requirements,
require a budget neutrality adjustment. Contributing to the negative impact of these changes is
CMS’ failure to incorporate those same increases to the E/M component of the 10- and 90-day
global codes. This legislation takes a critical step to provide stability for surgeons, their
practices, and their patients by mandating that CMS incorporate the revised E/M values in the
global codes, thus ensuring appropriate global surgical package code values.
Read full letter here
