Congress needs to address looming physician reimbursement cuts

For over 19 months, our nation’s doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic fighting each day for the health and well-being of our loved ones. With the insurgence of the delta variant flooding hospitals across the nation with patients, our nation’s healthcare workers have been once again dealing with overcrowded hospitals, staffing shortages and equipment issues.

Now with more than 700,000 deaths in the U.S. due to the pandemic and the surges in COVID-19 cases during the past several months, it is no secret that our healthcare professionals are spread thin. This makes the decision by the Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress to not address looming physician pay cuts during a pandemic completely incomprehensible.

Due to a budget-neutrality requirement in federal law, the effect of increasing the Medicare reimbursement rate for primary-care physicians is that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must decrease the reimbursement rate for other providers. As a result, many specialists, therapists and other physicians are now facing a substantial reimbursement cut next year—up to 9% for many providers. While I am strongly supportive of increasing reimbursement for primary-care physicians, increasing the rate for primary-care physicians at the expense of other providers and surgeons is misguided and dangerous for patients. 

The ramifications of allowing such a reimbursement cut to go into effect would only further strain our healthcare system that is already under unprecedented stress from the pandemic, threatening patient access to medically necessary services.

Across the country, the demand for physicians is high and growing as our population ages. However, over the next decade, 2 out of every 5 physicians will become eligible for retirement. With Americans over 65 generally requiring more specialized care, it is critical that we keep these physicians out of retirement as long as we can to ensure we have the providers we need to care for patients.

Furthermore, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians were already experiencing high levels of stress and burnout. For the past 50 years, suicide rates have been on the rise among physicians. The pandemic has only made things worse. Physicians and other healthcare workers have experienced increased emotional demands because of patient deaths, long work hours and social isolation, which have strained the well-being of our nation’s healthcare professionals and brought morale to an all-time low. These factors–combined with a significant reimbursement cut—would create a perfect storm that could result in a significant physician shortage that jeopardizes patient access to care.

As a practicing surgeon for nearly 15 years, I believe that no healthcare provider should have to worry about the uncertainty of looming reimbursement cuts, especially while battling COVID-19 on the front lines. We must ensure that these professionals have the support that they need and deserve as we continue to fight this pandemic. To ensure that our physicians are adequately paid for the care that they provide, Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), also a physician and I are leading the effort in Congress to avert these imminent cuts by extending the 3.75% payment adjustment in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule contained in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which is set to expire at the end of this year. Extending this payment adjustment will again afford some short-term stability for healthcare professionals struggling with the impact of this pandemic.

Physicians are among the everyday heroes keeping our families healthy, our communities out of harm’s way, and our livelihoods protected during this pandemic. Now is not the time to ask them to take a reimbursement cut.