Congress Must Act to Modernize Medicare Payment

With Congress now back in session after its April recess, it is renewing its focus on developing a budget reconciliation package to enact the federal spending cuts that President Trump has proposed. One issue of significant concern that ASCP believes Congress must address is Medicare payment reform. For years now, payment rate updates to the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) have not kept pace with inflation. PFS payment rates have declined in real terms by 33 percent since 2001, largely due to the impact of inflation. Earlier this year, Congress failed to reverse a 2.83 percent cut in the PFS, its fifth annual consecutive cut. 

On April 25, the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC), an advisory committee to Congress on Medicare policy, recommended once again that Congress update PFS payment rates annually to account for inflation. ASCP greatly appreciates MedPAC’s leadership here and is continuing its campaign lobbying Congress to follow suit. 

As ASCP’s motto, “Stronger Together,” truly incorporates how organizations are more likely to achieve success when we work together, we are working in concert with our advocacy partners, such as the American Medical Association and all other medical specialty societies supporting Medicare PFS reform, to enact legislation to update Medicare’s rates. 

Consequently, ASCP is asking all its members as well as their colleagues to urge Congress to pass the “Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act" (H.R. 879), introduced by Representatives Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA). The legislation would reverse the 2.83 percent cut for 2025 and add a 2 percent update. This increase is critical to helping stabilize pathology practices and clinical laboratories to ensure our field can continue providing patients with ready access to the quality pathology and laboratory services they need. 

ASCP urges you to use the following link to our eAdvocacy Center to send a brief message to Congress asking them to enact the “Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act." Click here.