The 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final regulation was just released. It included several wins for primary care. Most notably, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will implement a long overdue increase to clinical labor pricing, which is the portion of Medicare payments that account for the costs of employing clinical staff (i.e., wages and benefits). The data CMS uses for clinical labor pricing hasn’t been updated since 2002, negatively impacting primary care and other specialties that rely on clinical staff.

 

This update to clinical labor pricing will help physician practices hire and retain nurses, medical assistants, and other essential clinical staff. However, other specialties are opposing the update and lobbying Congress to delay it. Write to Congress today to tell them why the clinical labor pricing update is important for your practice!

 

While there were many positive developments in the MPFS final rule, it also confirmed that, without congressional intervention, the 2022 Medicare conversion factor will decrease, and payment cuts will take effect starting January 1, 2022. These cuts would negatively impact family medicine practices on the frontlines of the pandemic. Congress must act to avert these cuts by increasing the 2022 conversion factor. 

 

Ask your members of Congress to act now to stop forthcoming Medicare payment cuts.