Biden Signs Law Providing Slight Increase in 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
Increase Applies to Patients Receiving Care On or After March 9, 2024
On Saturday, President Biden signed into law a bipartisan spending package that keeps part of the federal government funded through September. Part of this package was a provision providing a slight boost to the Medicare conversion factor, reducing the cuts to physicians in Medicare that took place January 1, 2024, by 1.68%.
Unfortunately, this increase is not retroactive and only applies to patients who receive care on or after March 9, 2024.
This short-term patch is a start, but these cuts still threaten Medicare patients’ access to chiropractic and other services in Medicare. Congress still needs to stop the cycle of pay cuts and temporary fixes and enact permanent, long-term Medicare payment reform.
Physicians remain the only providers who do not receive automatic inflation updates in the fee schedule. The AMA estimates that adjusted for inflation in practice costs, Medicare physician pay has declined 30 percent since 2001.
Stay tuned for more information, including any updates to Michigan’s Medicare fee schedule provided by WPS, as it becomes available.
