PA-ACP Thanks US Rep. Wild and Others for Support to Restore Medicare Cuts

 

PA-ACP President Larry Jones, MD, FACP, thanked Rep. Susan Wild for her leadership, and members of the state’s Congressional delegation who joined in sending a bipartisan letter to President Biden, Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, and Minority Leader McCarthy urging swift action to prevent looming Medicare payment cuts.

“Physician practices have struggled just to keep their doors open and continue to treat Medicare patients in the face of COVID and high inflation. We're grateful to Reps. Wild, Miller Meeks and so many of our Pennsylvania Congressional delegation for recognizing the threat these payment cuts pose for seniors and physician practices,” Jones said.

U.S. Representatives Susan Wild of Pennsylvania and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, MD of Iowa were joined in the letter by PA Representatives Brendan Boyle, Madeleine Dean, Brian Fitzpatrick, Chrissy Houlahan,  John Joyce, MD, FACP, Conor Lamb, Guy Reschenthaler, and Glenn Thompson, along with 105 other members.

Jones said “Our members are already doing more with less as the costs for supplies, medicines, and staffing continue to increase. We’re seeing more patients than ever before and payment cuts are the last thing we need if we’re going to continue providing access to quality care.”

Jones urged PA-ACP members to join him in thanking our supporters in Congress who signed onto the letter.

Advocacy by the College, PA-ACP and its members has an impact both in Harrisburg and in Washington.  The ACP and PA Chapter will continue their efforts to explain the issue in the waning days of the Congressional session.  Its grassroots members, Advocates for Internal Medicine, staff and leadership are all working to get the President and Congress to listen, protect patients, practices and communities.  We need Congress to act.

In their letter, Wild and Miller-Meeks noted that the cuts could force medical groups, hospitals and integrated health systems to “eliminate services, furlough staff, implement hiring freezes, and delay population health initiatives.”

“We are opposed to paying for preventing these cuts with additional provider cuts,” the lawmakers continued. “The combination of skyrocketing expenses, significant staffing shortages and looming cuts to Medicare payments will only make a bad situation far worse – especially for seniors in rural and underserved areas who continue to face health care access issues. Physicians, in particular, do not receive inflationary updates in the Medicare program and, as a result, we urge Congressional intervention to prevent the entirety of these cuts. Anything short of this is still a cut that hurts providers and the patients that they treat.”

The full text of the letter is available here.