Medicare Physician Pay Cut Forestalled As Administration Freezes Payments; Take Action Now to Support a Payment Fix

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Friday it will essentially freeze the current Medicare physician payment system because the Congress left Washington for its July 4 recess without reaching agreement on legislation to avert the scheduled 10.6% pay cut. Congressional staff report the freeze could last up to 10 days past the statutory July 1 deadline, which means that the Senate will have three days after it reconvenes July 7 to pass a payment fix before the HHS freeze is lifted.

New talks between Senate Democrats and Republicans will need to resolve this issue before July 10. Until then, physician payments will stay as is.

Advocacy by all physicians continues to put pressure on the Senate to pass needed legislation to avert the payment cuts.