CMS ANNOUNCES ADVANCED PAYMENTS TO MEDICAL GROUPS IN RESPONSE TO CHANGE HEALTHCARE OUTAGE

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the availability of advanced Medicare payments for medical groups in response to the Change Healthcare cyberattack. The advanced Medicare payments may be granted in amounts representative of up to 30 days of claims payments for eligible physician practices.

Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) will provide public information on how to request advanced payments as soon as today. MGMA appreciates CMS heeding our calls to provide financial relief to medical groups and remains steadfast in our efforts to advocate with policymakers for additional support. Please see the agency’s press release and fact sheet for more information.

CONGRESS PASSES PARTIAL PHYSICIAN PAYMENT FIX

President Biden has signed into law a legislative package to fund certain federal agencies for 2024. This legislation includes healthcare polices such as the extension of the 1.0 work GPCI floor, extension of the Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM) incentive payment for 2024 at 1.88%, maintaining the 2023 Qualifying Participant (QP) threshold levels for 2024, and more.

Additionally included is an increase of 1.68% to Medicare physician payment effective today through the end of the year. This partially mitigates the 3.37% cut to the Medicare conversion factor that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, and leaves a reduction of 1.69% in place for the rest of the year. We are significantly disappointed by Congress’ failure to reverse the full cut and are calling on them to enact long-term sustainable Medicare reform that provides annual inflationary updates and modernizes the antiquated budget neutrality policies that jeopardize patient access to care.