The Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)/Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Washington Office issued a press release on Nov. 27 urging Congress to pass the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act of 2024 (H.R. 10073) before the conclusion of the 118th Congress. Following the press release, Becker’s Spine Review published an article titled “Spine groups pushes for Congress to stop physician pay cut.” The article states that the legislation would prevent the scheduled 2.83% Medicare physician payment cut from going into effect and give a 1.8% positive payment update for 2025. Policy and Medicine also published an article, “Bipartisan Legislation Introduced to Avoid Decreased Medicare Reimbursement Rates,” highlighting neurosurgery’s support for the legislation.
On Jan. 31, the AANS/CNS Washington Office issued a press release in support of the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act, a slightly modified version of the legislation introduced last Congress. This legislation would prospectively, effective April 1 through Dec. 31, 2025, stop, in full, the 2.83% cut imposed on Jan. 1, 2025. It also provides physicians with an additional 2% payment increase to help reflect rising costs pertaining to running a practice. Three articles were published following the AANS/CNS press release:
- Physicians rally behind Medicare payment bill
- Spine groups call for action on proposed Medicare pay reform bill
- Bill introduced to reverse 2.83% physician Medicare cuts
On Feb. 10, the AANS and the CNS joined national medical societies and state medical associations in sending a letter urging Congress to include provisions that both reverse the latest round of Medicare payment cuts and provide physicians with a meaningful payment increase that reflects ongoing inflationary pressures in the forthcoming March 2025 appropriations bill.
