This Week in Washington DC – September 12, 2020

From ACG Legislative and Public Policy Council Chair, Whitfield L. Knapple, MD, FACG

In an effort to keep ACG members up-to-date on important updates in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, please find below the latest information tailored for GI practices.

Medicare reimbursement cuts are looming just when many practices are reopening from pandemic. A new report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) this week says that over 40% of U.S. adults reported having delayed or avoided medical care during the pandemic because of concerns about COVID-19. Nearly 1/3 of adult respondents reported having delayed or avoided routine medical care.

“If routine care avoidance were to be sustained, adults could miss opportunities for management of chronic conditions, receipt of routine vaccinations, or early detection of new conditions, which might worsen outcomes.”

Call to Action – Congressional Sign-on Letter

Medicare physician payments are scheduled to be cut when increases to evaluation and management (E/M) services are implemented. GI procedures are scheduled to be cut roughly 10%.

We need your help now: Reps. Roger Marshall, MD (R-KS), Brad Wenstrup, MD (R-OH), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Terri Sewell (D-AL), David McKinley (R-WV) and Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ) are leading a letter to HHS Secretary Azar and CMS Administrator Verma, urging them to address specialty physician cuts in the CY21 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.  Please urge your representatives to sign this letter!

GI practices were forced to shut down, leading to delays in needed care, including serious delays in colon cancer detection. A recent study found that a drop in cancer diagnoses was attributed to COVID-19 and the delay in screening, including colorectal cancer screening. Another study found that screenings for breast, cervical, and colon cancer dropped by an estimated 90% after the declaration of the COVID-19 national emergency. While the number of cancer screenings has recently begun to rise, a follow-up study demonstrates that the expected levels of screenings are still down by a third. CMS must use any regulatory authority the agency has to prevent these looming Medicare cuts in CY 2021.

In August, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) championed a letter to House leadership asking for a 2 year budget neutrality waiver. The final letter had 92 co-signatories. Thank you ACG members for your advocacy efforts! In July, ACG and the GI societies joined over 100 specialty societies on a letter asking Secretary of HHS Alex Azar that the agency use its authority under the public health emergency (PHE) declaration to waive budget neutrality for the changes.