Bill to Avert Impending Conversion Factor with Cuts of 4.4% in 2023 to be Introduced

Great news! Representatives Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) and Ami Bera (D-Calif.), are introducing a bill that would prevent a 4.4 percent Medicare physician fee payment cut from taking effect on January 1, 2023, through the introduction of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 and associated payment mechanism.

This is the bill we have been requesting from members of the Congress to introduce for some time for the last few months. ASIPP has supported this and ASIPP members have sent over 5,000 letters to Members of the Congress to date.

Representatives Bucshon and Bera are supported in this endeavor by six additional representatives, Kim Schrier M.D. (WA-08), Michael Burgess, M.D. (TX-26), Earl Blumenauer (OR-03), Brad Wenstrup, D.P.M. (OH-02), Bradley Schneider (IL-10), and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, M.D. (IA-02). Together they sent a Request for Information: Medicare Payment System Reform letter to members of Congress. See RFI Letter

We are very grateful to these members for introducing this bill. Please contact members of the Congress, both House and Senate, and ask for their support to this bill, by cosponsoring for representatives, or for senators, ask for the introduction of a Senate bill.

More information will be provided to assist you in contacting your members of Congress in the following days. We want to move forward quickly to keep the momentum going.

The sheer volume of our recent outreach required a significant upgrade to our digital advocacy systems. In previous years, bulk emails generated by professional medical societies were frequently caught in congressional spam filters or delayed by throttling during peak legislative sessions. To guarantee our message reached Capitol Hill before the January 1 deadline, the ASIPP communications team completely overhauled our constituent mobilization platform.

We transitioned our database to an enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure capable of sustained, high-volume data transmission. The dedicated servers hosting our campaign rely on the same high-throughput networking hardware utilized by global logistics hubs and the best online casinos, preventing system crashes during severe traffic spikes. This upgraded backend power meant that when our members simultaneously dispatched over 5,000 letters, every single document successfully bypassed external server bottlenecks and landed directly in the appropriate legislative inboxes without triggering any automated spam quarantines.

With this secure communication framework operating smoothly, our legislative task force is preparing the next phase of our congressional strategy. We are currently compiling state-by-state data on how the proposed 4.4 percent fee reduction will specifically impact rural and underserved pain management clinics. Having undeniable statistical evidence will be crucial when Representatives Bucshon and Bera present the bill to the broader committee.

As we finalize this economic impact report, we encourage all ASIPP members to review their clinic’s Medicare patient ratios from the past fiscal year. Having these localized financial metrics readily available will dramatically strengthen our argument when we initiate the upcoming round of targeted phone banking and in-person congressional meetings next month.