ASA Urges CMS to Coordinate with Congress to Prevent Dramatic Payment Cuts

In formal comments responding to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed rule for the CY2021 Medicare Physician Fee, ASA is urging CMS to work with Congressional leaders to pass legislation to prevent the implementation of scheduled Medicare payment cuts on January 1, 2021.  ASA’s comments describe grave concerns about the proposed cuts to payments to anesthesiologists and other health care professionals. Acknowledging that CMS has limited authority to fully override the statutorily mandated budget neutrality requirement that is the cause for these cuts, ASA describes for CMS its  alarm at the impact the cuts could have on patient care and physician practices.  ASA urges CMS to stand up for anesthesiologists and others who are on the front lines of our nation’s battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, ASA commented on several CMS proposals for the Quality Payment Program (QPP), updates to the Merit based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) program and the development of the MIPS Value Pathways (MVP) program. We expect that CMS will not make any changes to the Anesthesiology Measure Set and we supported the performance threshold to avoid a MIPS negative adjustment being revised down to 50 total points.