Seeking Medicare Physician Payment Increases

IPSIS and 134 other health organizations requested an annual inflation-based payment update based on the total Medicare Economic Index (MEI) to address ongoing Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) issues.

The letter commends the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) for recommending that Congress increase the 2024 Medicare physician payment rate above current law with an inflation-based payment update tied to the MEI.

It also highlights that physician payments have not kept pace with rising inflation and practice costs. The cost of running a medical practice has increased 47 percent between 2001 and 2023, while Medicare physician payments have only increased by 0.4 percent per year on average. The letter argues that physicians need fiscal stability to provide better patient care, and an inflation-based payment update would be a meaningful solution to stabilize Medicare payments.

IPSIS provides the voice of interventional pain medicine in advocacy efforts organized by the AMA as a result of the percentage of IPSIS members who maintain concurrent AMA. Help guarantee the IPSIS seat at this important table by maintaining your IPSIS and AMA memberships. You can also help sustain this vital advocacy with your donations. The International Pain and Spine Intervention Society (IPSIS) is a tax-exempt organization under US section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. As such, contributions are deductible to the extent allowed by law.