For Immediate Release
December 7, 2021
Congress Must Take Immediate Action to Prevent Medicare
Physician Payment Cuts
Statement Attributable to:
Joseph R. Sellers, MD, FAAP, FACP
President, Medical Society of the State of New York
“With only a few weeks to go before an enormous 10% cut in Medicare physician payments goes into effect, it is imperative for the US Congress to take action before the end of the year to prevent this cut which could have disastrous impacts on seniors’ continuing access to their physicians.
“The cut is prompted by a number of policies that are expiring at the end of the year. The implications of this potentially precipitous cut was made more clear by last week’s report that overall Medicare spending on physician services dropped a staggering 14% in 2020 (Medicare spending on physician services declined $13.9 billion in 2020 | American Medical Association (ama-assn.org), further highlighting the fragility of many community-based physician practices across the country.
“We thank the many members of the New York Congressional delegation who recently joined a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy urging action to prevent these cuts, but we are nearly out of time. We urge immediate action to help ensure that community-based physicians will still be able to provide the health care services that are expected and deserved by our patients.”
# # #
Founded in 1807, the Medical Society of the State of New York is the state’s principal non-profit professional organization for physicians, residents, and medical students of all specialties. Its mission is to represent the interests of patients and physicians to assure quality healthcare services for all.
Media Contact:
Roseann Raia | Communications / Marketing
Medical Society of the State of New York
865 Merrick Avenue
Westbury, NY 11590
516.488.6100 x302 | rraia@mssny.org
Share
This guideline provides recommendations for clinicians providing pain care, including those prescribing opioids, for outpatients aged ≥18 years. It updates the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain — United States, 2016 (MMWR Recomm Rep 2016;65[No. RR-1]:1–49) and includes recommendations for managing acute (duration of <1 month), subacute (duration of 1–3 months), and chronic (duration of >3 months) pain. The recommendations do not apply to pain related to sickle cell disease or cancer or to patients receiving palliative or end-of-life care [...]
-
The New York State Department of Health is reminding New Yorkers that the overuse and misuse of antibiotics are key factors leading to antibiotic resistance. So, while it is tempting to ask a health care provider for antibiotics to treat cold, flu, and other viral illness, it is best to leave such decisions to your provider, as antibiotics only work on bacterial infections. That's the message on a new poster the Department is making available to observe U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week, which runs from November 18 to 24 [...]
he New York State Department of Health is reminding New Yorkers that the overuse and misuse of antibiotics are key factors leading to antibiotic resistance. So, while it is tempting to ask a health care provider for antibiotics to treat cold, flu, and other viral illness, it is best to leave such decisions to your provider, as antibiotics only work on bacterial infections. That's the message on a new poster the Department is making available to observe U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week, which runs from November 18 to 24 [...]
-
As you are likely aware, there is increased circulation of several respiratory viruses in recent weeks, including RSV, the Flu and COVID 19, especially among our pediatric population. The Department of Health is monitoring regional hospital capacity and is engaging hospital and health care systems that may be seeing larger than normal patient volumes in their emergency departments and inpatient units. […]
