Our industry advocates, The National Association for the Support of Long Term Care (NASL), is on the legistlative front lines in supporting all in the LTC community. From providers to agencies to patients and support staff, Medicare’s Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) is the financial matrix by which everything in our industry is driven. Between the chaos created in healthcare due to the public health emergency, the cuts that were implemented when PDPM was implement, the further cuts that affected us when the reduction in assistants fees were slashed, and now, the proposed additional cuts that could begin as early as January 2023 are the last thing we need!
A NASL-supported bill was introduced on September 13 entitled Supporting Medicare Providers Act of 2022. This bill calls for an INCREASE in the PFS of 4.42% rather than the Medicare suggested DECREASE of 4.4%. This is huge! The increase is necessary to stabilize the workforce with increased wages and benefits, to ensure state of the art equipment is available, to continue to support education and research, and to assure our patients that they are receiving outstanding care.
Please join your voice with millions of others in the long term care arena to let Congress know your stance on this issue by asking them to vote in support of the bill.
Note:
- A vote for the bill is in support of the much needed increase
- A vote against the bill is in support of the decrease.
The vote is likely to be taken before the House and Senate leave Washington for the holiday break. Make your voice matter!
Below is the call to action from NASL with links for you to learn more about the upcoming legislation and a quick link to email your congressperson.
As always, if you have any questions please let me know. Together, we can make a difference!
Best,
Denise
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Dear NASL Advocates:
Are you concerned about the upcoming cuts to the CY 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS)? If the answer to that question is yes, then please take two minutes to email your Member of Congress and ask them to support bipartisan legislation that would provide critical relief to providers scheduled to receive Medicare payment cuts under the CY 2023 PFS.
The bill, which was introduced on September 13th by Reps. Ami Bera (D-CA) and Larry Buschon (R-IN), is entitled the Supporting Medicare Providers Act of 2022 (H.R.8800). This NASL-endorsed legislation would accomplish two specific goals. First, the bill would provide critical relief to providers by mitigating the cut to the CY 2023 Conversion Factor (CF). Specifically, the bill would provide for a 4.42% payment adjustment increase for CY 2023. As you’ll recall, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a CF of $33.08 for CY 2023, which represents a decrease of 4.4% (or $1.53 billion) from CY 2022. Second, the bill also includes a sense of Congress on future PFS reform that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S. House of Representatives, and U.S. 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.
The bill currently has 43 cosponsors and the time for advocacy on this issue is now as there is not much time left on the legislative calendar for Congress to act before the CF cut is implemented on January 1, 2023. NASL has prepared a letter for you to email to your respective House members urging them to cosponsor the Supporting Medicare Providers Act of 2022 (H.R.8800) and asking them to add the bipartisan legislation to any legislative packages moving before the end of the year. We need to generate as many cosponsors as possible for this legislation in order to show House and Senate leadership that it has significant support. You can access and send this email in under two minutes using the link provided below:
Once you select the link above, you will be prompted to type in your name, street address, zip code, phone number, and email address. The email template NASL has prepared for you to send to your House member is provided below that information and you are welcome to edit the message as you see fit. Once the message is sent, you will see a thank you message confirming that your email was submitted successfully.
Please feel free to share this message on social media, with staff, colleagues, non-NASL members and family members.
Thank you for your advocacy and support of this important initiative.
Should you have any additional questions or concerns, please email Michael Barnett at michael@nasl.org.
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