In addition to individual member efforts, SCAI has led a group of cardiovascular physicians and patient advocates within the heart and vascular community on a joint letter urging Congress to take immediate steps to achieve necessary relief from the pending Medicare cuts. 

On Tuesday, March 30th, CMS announced that in anticipation of possible Congressional action to extend the 2% sequester reduction suspension, the agency has instructed the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) to hold on all claims with dates of service on or after April 1, 2021, for a short period without affecting providers’ cash flow. This will ultimately minimize the amount of claims the MACs must reprocess when Congress extends the suspension. 

Please don’t stop now—more Medicare cuts are expected.

Congress still needs to address the additional 4% Medicare cut, approximately $36B, scheduled to take effect at the end of the year because of the PAYGO Act budget rules that require the cost of legislation such as the recently enacted, American Recovery Act to be offset. If Congress fails to do this in time an automatic trigger will activate a significant across-the-board cut to Medicare. Congress has made bipartisan efforts to suspend this requirement in the past. The impact of these additional cuts on already COVID-distressed interventional cardiology practices would be devastating. Please contact your Senators and congressional representatives and urge them to suspend these statutory requirements. You can make it happen—contact them now!