In this episode Sean takes on H.R. 8800 (The Supporting Medicare providers Act of 2022)... Medicare Providers are facing a potential cut in reimbursement of up to 8.4%. However, if your contracts are paid at a % of Medicare your commercial contracts may be taking up to the same 8.4% cut.

H.R. 8800 was referred to the Subcommittee on Health back on September 14, 2022, but there’s been crickets ever since… the question is why and whether Congress (who by the way does not have to worry about healthcare in the same way civilians do) realizes that if these cuts hold up, there will be a mass exodus from the Medicare System. Providers will either retire early or shut their doors to Medicare and any insurance company that follows suit with reducing provider fees. The industry is already facing a crisis with respect to a shortage in physicians, couple that with what COVID-19 did to the industry with mandatory shutdowns and closures of surgery rooms and ASCs for elective surgeries and now a looming cut based on a reduction to the conversion factor and a PAYGO Sequestration cut, and you have a situation that the industry and patients may never recover from.

H.R. 8800 introduced by Congressmen Bera and Bucshon looks to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to extend certain increases in payments for physicians’ services under the Medicare program through 2023. “It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the House of Representatives, and the Senate should commit to take administrative and legislative actions to—

(1) ensure financial stability and predictability in the Medicare physician payment system;

(2) promote and reward value-based care innovation; and

(3) safeguard timely access to high-quality care by advancing health equity and reducing disparities”.