President Biden signed legislation on Saturday, March 9th that will offset by 1.68% the current Medicare Physician Fee Schedule reimbursement reduction of 3.37%, resulting in a net reimbursement reduction of 1.69% for 2024. 

On Saturday, March 9, 2024, the President signed H.R. 4366, the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024,” into law following its passage in the Senate Friday by a vote of 75 to 22.  This legislation assists in the reduction of the full extent of cuts originally applied to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) for fiscal year 2024.  

Through this action a 1.68% increase to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rates effective on March 9, 2024, until January 1, 2025, has become law. The net effect of this partially offsets the 3.37% reduction to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Conversion Factor (CF), which was implemented Jan. 1. Therefore, this new CF now represents an overall 1.69% decrease as compared to the 2023 CF.  

Most radiology practices will experience a Medicare pay cut of less than 3% for the remainder of 2024, RBMA estimated, depending on their modality mix and regional cost variation. 

Members of Congress from both major parties demonstrated their support for the physician and non-physician provider communities by sending two letters to Senate leadership urging congressional action to mitigate the 3.37% reduction leading up to the Senate vote. 

Imaging advocacy groups commended lawmakers for at least partly addressing this concern, but they also called for long-term Medicare payment reform. While the need remains to address the methodology that has gone into these annual cuts, advocacy groups remain poised to place pressure on Congress for intervention and execution of change. 

 

Gregory D. Wertz, MS, CMPE 

Manager of Regulatory Affairs