The American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine is one of 75 health care organizations advocating for a Medicare payment provision that would protect care for senior citizens and promote competition in community-based independent physician practices.

The multidisciplinary coalition of organizations, led by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, signed a June 23^rd letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Majority Whip John Barrasso urging a permanent, annual inflationary update to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) as part of the government’s current legislative funding package, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (HR 1). The provision would tie the MPFS to the Medicare Economic Index to help ensure predictable annual reimbursement levels.

Nearly half of all Medicare beneficiaries receive care from clinician-led practices, many of them in rural areas with limited access, and the number of independent physicians and rural medical practices are declining. Stagnant or declining reimbursement rates contribute to this trend, further reducing patient access and “forcing patients to travel long distances, leave their communities, or wait until their health deteriorates into an emergency that’s harder and more expensive to recover from,” the letter reads.

Reimbursement rates also impact the increased consolidation of health organizations and concentration of market power that threaten community-based practices, according to the letter. The coalition also urges Senators Thune and Barrasso to continue to stand up and build upon the Medicare Payment Reform Working Group, a bipartisan Senate effort formed in February 2024 designed to develop broader reforms.

The legislation package passed the House on May 22, and GOP leaders hope to finalize it by the July 4^th holiday.

Read the letter.