On October 29, congressional leaders on Medicare payment reform introduced an ASTRO-supported bill that would take steps to repair the broken Medicare reimbursement system. Legislation sponsors Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC) and ASTRO champion Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), joined by six physician members of Congress, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, MD (R-IA), Raul Ruiz, MD (D-CA), Larry Bucshon, MD (R-IL), Kim Schrier, MD (D-WA), John Joyce, MD (R-PA), and Ami Bera, MD (D-CA), introduced a bill that would eliminate the 2.8% conversion factor cut and provide a partial inflationary-adjusted update for 2025.

Without intervention before January 1, when cuts are scheduled to take effect, 2025 would mark the fifth consecutive year CMS has proposed cuts to physician reimbursement in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). Radiation oncology remains one of the hardest hit specialties in the house of medicine with more than 23% payment cuts since just 2013. Failure to stop these annual cuts threatens beneficiary access, especially in rural and medically underserved areas.

ASTRO supports this important step in payment reform for 2025, while continuing to support the ROCR Act to provide long-term stability in Medicare’s radiation oncology payments.