Advocacy News

A new round of floor speeches highlighted the bipartisan agreement among members of the House of Representatives that there is urgent need for Medicare payment relief.

Our Congressional champions urged their colleagues to provide short-term relief and long-term stability for the system. Join their call by using our advocacy tool to contact your members of Congress.

Committee action in the House and Senate this week focused on Medicare, with hearings on Academy priorities to improve patient access to care, including policies to reform prior authorization and update the Medicare physician payment system.

This unusual move by MedPAC, which advises Congress, signals growing awareness of the need for Medicare payment reform.  

We shared several ideas on how to reform physician payment to address both the growing number of annual cuts you face and long-term stability for the Medicare system.  

Ophthalmology department chairs of several leading medical schools have sent letters to the VA undersecretary for health expressing concern for a recent change to community care guidelines.

Ophthalmologist and U.S. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks sent a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Health expressing concern that the agency removed language from community care guidelines allowing only ophthalmologists to perform invasive procedures.

In a 50-plus-page letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator, we urged the agency to engage with Congress to ensure appropriate physician reimbursement and reform of the Medicare payment system.

Nine out of 10 physicians surveyed by the American Medical Association said for patients whose treatments required prior authorization, the process had a somewhat or significant negative effect on their clinical outcomes. The Academy continues to work with our members and partners to press for reform.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has acceded to Academy-led efforts to eliminate or at least reduce the unnecessary burden imposed by CMS’ prior authorization program for hospital outpatient department services, including removing CPT code 67911, a type of corrective lid surgery, from the list.