Thanks to the AOA Congressional Advocacy Conference, Optometry will have an immediate chance to be heard on Capitol Hill on the massive Medicare physician payment cut set to take effect March 1.
Hundreds of optometrists and students traveling to the nation’s capital this week to build new support for AOA-backed legislation before Congress will also be calling for a swift correction of the 21% cut in reimbursement to ODs and other Medicare physicians and a long-term solution to the continuing payment uncertainty.
Congress’ failure to enacted long-term Medicare payment reform or even to extend the 60-day “patch” approved in December has allowed the payment cut to take effect, and led the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to place a temporary hold on fee-for-service claim processing. In a statement last week, CMS instructed carriers to delay processing claims for services provided for the March 1 – 10 period.
The AOA Congressional Advocacy Conference, Optometry’s largest annual Federal advocacy event, had been aimed at bolstering AOA’s year-long effort to make patient access / provider non-discrimination safeguards a foundation for any health care bill to be voted on by Congress. With the Medicare payment meltdown about to be felt by doctors across the country, the message that participating optometrists and students will be taking to the U.S. Capitol will include a demand for Medicare payment fairness.
