2024 AADA Congressional Advocacy Agenda

The American Academy of Dermatology Association advocates on issues and prioritizes work on those that are most pressing and impactful for our membership.

2024 Sole Federal Congressional Advocacy Priority: Medicare Physician Payment Reform

• To establish a positive annual inflation adjustment.

• To replace or eliminate budget neutrality requirements to the physician payment system.

The failure of the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) to keep up with inflation is the greatest threat to maintaining seniors’ access to health care. Since 2001, the cost of operating a medical practice has increased 47%, while economy-wide inflation has risen 73%. During this time, Medicare hospital facility updates increased by roughly 70%, significantly outpacing physician reimbursement. Adjusted for inflation in practice costs, Medicare physician reimbursement has declined 30% from 2001 to 2024.

Congress should provide physicians with positive, inflation-based reimbursement updates to ensure practices maintain financial stability and patients have continued access to care. It is also imperative that Congress revise the budget neutrality policies to: (a) prevent erroneous utilization estimates from leading to inappropriate cuts; (b) clarify the types of services subject to budget neutrality adjustments; and (c) update the projected expenditure threshold triggering the budget neutrality adjustment, which has remained unchanged since 1992.