New Legislation to Halt the 2022 Medicare Payment Cuts

Congress has passed the Protecting Medicare & American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act which will delay the majority of pending Medicare payment cuts to physicians previously scheduled for January 1, 2022. The house approved the legislation on December 7 followed by the Senate approval on December 9th.  

Highlights of the legislation include:

• Increases payments on the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule by 3% in 2022
• Delays the Medicare 4% pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) for one year (2023)  
• Phases in the 2% sequestration cut. The sequestration cut is delayed from January to March, from April to June a 1% reduction will be implemented, and the full 2% reduction will be applied July through December  
• Delays the PAMA related cuts to the clinical laboratory fee schedule for one year (until 2023) and the next round of private payor reporting requirements
• Delays implementation of the Medicare radiation oncology model for one year (until 2023)

Source: https://www.cap.org/advocacy/latest-news-and-practice-data/december-9-2021