The Alliance of Specialty Medicine submitted testimony for the record to the US Senate Finance Committee addressing the challenges and concerns regarding Medicare physician payment and quality improvement programs. The testimony was submitted as part of the committee’s April 11 hearing, “Bolstering Chronic Care through Medicare Payment.”
In its testimony, the Alliance emphasized the need for stabilizing and improving Medicare physician reimbursement and performance programs through legislative reforms. They proposed various actions to address these issues, including replacing flat base payment updates with annual updates based on an appropriate inflationary index, exempting certain benefits and services from budget-neutrality adjustments, and requiring consistent updates of key data inputs used to set Medicare payments. They also highlight the need for more granular evaluations of the impact of the Quality Payment Program (QPP) and Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC) on healthcare quality and value. The entire testimony can be accessed by clicking the link below.
Alliance Statement for the Record SFC Medicare Physician Payment 04.11.2024