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- Congress Passes Bill Giving Pathologists $19.1 Million in Additional Medicare Payment Relief through 2024
On March 8, Congress passed the 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act that included additional relief from Medicare payment cuts. Physicians will receive a boost in Medicare pay for patient services starting from the legislation’s enactment through the end of 2024.
Although the CAP appreciates the partial payment relief, the CAP continues to urge Congress to pass legislation to stop these devastating Medicare cuts for good. Temporary patches and ongoing cuts to the Medicare physician payment system have left pathology practices and patient access to care at serious risk.
The 2024 cuts are on top of the lack of an inflationary update to the physician fee schedule. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), Medicare physician pay fell 26% from 2001-2023 because physicians, unlike other Medicare providers, do not get yearly inflationary payment updates.
This new relief equates to $19.1 million dollars for pathologists as the legislation increases Medicare pay for the remainder of the year by 1.68%, meaning that overall pathology pay would increase over current 2024 levels while still being 1.04% lower in 2024 compared to last year.
Throughout 2023 and early 2024, the CAP persistently lobbied lawmakers to enact short-term Medicare payment relief. Medicare’s payment formula had cut pathology services by 2.72% in 2024 while some other physician specialties faced higher reductions.