On Friday, December 10, 2021, President Biden signed into law the Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act, legislation that temporarily postpones several cuts to the 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). Specifically, the bill:
- Offsets most of the 3.75% cut to the conversion factor by increasing physician payments by 3% for 2022.
- Delays the 2% Medicare sequester until March 31, 2022, after which a 1% cut would take place through June 30, 2022, unless Congress acts again.
- Delays the 4% PAYGO cuts associated with the American Rescue Plan until 2023, unless waived again by Congress in subsequent legislation.
Unfortunately, these temporary fixes are far from perfect, and not all cuts for 2022, such as the remaining .75% cut to the conversion factor, have been halted. It is clear that systemic changes are still needed. The PPI Committee continues to follow this issue very closely and will keep you as up to date as possible.
Additional Considerations
Because of the new law, the fee schedules posted by many Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) in November are now obsolete. The MACs are in the process of updating their fee schedules to accommodate the changes outlined above. Some MACs have pulled their fee schedules from their website until their updates are complete, but others may not have. Be sure to check your state’s applicable fee schedules and make sure the version on your state MAC’s website is up to date.
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