AAPM&R recently joined more than 170 national medical specialty societies and state medical associations in signing a letter led by the American Medical Association urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to withdraw its proposed 50% payment reduction for evaluation and management (E/M) services reported with modifier 25 when furnished on the same day as a procedure. The coalition argued that CMS has not provided sufficient evidence to justify the reduction and warned that the policy could significantly undermine physician practices, particularly independent and office-based practices that rely on appropriate reimbursement to continue serving patients.
The letter calls on CMS to pursue targeted, evidence-based approaches to address any concerns about payment overlap rather than implementing a broad, across-the-board payment cut that could affect physicians across multiple specialties. AAPM&R is working on physiatry-specific comments to CMS addressing this issue and other priorities in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule ahead of the September 14 comment deadline. We are also planning to provide members with a template to submit individual comments in the coming days. Please contact us at healthpolicy@aapmr.org with questions.