reminder-contact-your-member-of-congress-to-stop-year-end-medicare-cuts | Reminder: Contact Your Member of Congress to Stop Year-End Medicare Cuts | Early career | Shared_Content/News/Membership_Memo/2023/november-22/reminder-contact-your-member-of-congress-to-stop-year-end-medicare-cuts | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/MembershipMemo/2023/november/medicare-graphic-645x425px.png" class="pull-right" alt="Support Medicare Sustainability graphic" /></div>
<h5>November 22, 2023</h5>
<h2>Reminder: Contact Your Member of Congress to Stop Year-End Medicare Cuts</h2>
<p>With the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposing a 3.4% reduction in Medicare's physician payments for 2024, the WSMA is urging all members to contact their congressional representatives today and call on them to stop the cuts. There's less than two months left in the year, so please make this a priority. Everyone agrees the Medicare physician payment system is broken, and it's time for Congress to do something about it. <a href="https://physiciansgrassrootsnetwork.org/be-heard?vvsrc=%2fCampaigns%2f108965%2fRespond">Please contact your representative and senators and urge them to cancel the cuts.</a></p>
<p>The WSMA is also urging Washington's congressional delegation to sign on to H.R. 2474, the Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act. The legislation applies a much-needed permanent inflation-based update to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule conversion factor. <a href="[@]Shared_Content/News/Membership_Memo/2023/november-8/contact-your-member-of-congress-today-to-stop-year-end-medicare-cuts">Learn more about how you can help our advocacy on this long-term Medicare payment reform</a>.</p>
</div> | 11/22/2023 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |
sign-up-to-be-a-wsma-social-media-ambassador | Sign Up to Be a WSMA Social Media Ambassador | Early career | Shared_Content/News/Membership_Memo/2023/november-22/sign-up-to-be-a-wsma-social-media-ambassador | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/MembershipMemo/2023/november/doc-with-smartphone-645x425px.jpg" class="pull-right" alt="doctor with a smartphone" /></div>
<h5>November 22, 2023</h5>
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<h2>Sign Up to Be a WSMA Social Media Ambassador</h2>
<p>If you are a social media user, you can help amplify WSMA's calls to action, legislative priorities, public health messages, and more with your peers and the public online by becoming a WSMA social media ambassador.</p>
<p>Ambassadors will receive periodic email prompts to promote WSMA's most strategically important content. We'll provide links to articles, sample posts, graphics (if available), and relevant hashtags or partner organizations to tag. We'll also keep you apprised of opportunities for more enhanced social media engagement-social media "takeovers," short videos, and more.</p>
<p>You can choose which content you want to promote based on your interests, and you can opt out of the program at any time. Use our <a href="https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=CgN5_wMfNU66xEvN3PBcAFbXjQTErcBIm97a5r4IigdUQ1pBQ0pSNFVFVk9INVlYTExJUlNNMURTVy4u">online sign-up form</a> to become a WSMA ambassador; all we need is your name and preferred email address. If you are a social media user, we hope you'll join us in advocating on behalf of Washington medicine.</p>
</div> | 11/22/2023 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |
contact-your-member-of-congress-today-to-stop-year-end-medicare-cuts | Contact your Member of Congress Today to Stop Year-End Medicare Cuts | Early career | Shared_Content/News/Membership_Memo/2023/november-8/contact-your-member-of-congress-today-to-stop-year-end-medicare-cuts | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/MembershipMemo/2023/november/ama-fmn-protectphysicianpractices-645x425px.png" class="pull-right" alt="AMA Protect physician practices logo" /></div>
<h5>November 8, 2023</h5>
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<h2>Contact your Member of Congress Today to Stop Year-End Medicare Cuts</h2>
<p>Recently the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced final plans for payment schedules for physicians, approving a 3.4% reduction in Medicare's physician payments for 2024. We are urging all members to contact their representatives today to urge them to stop the cuts. There's less than two months left in the year so please make this a priority. Everyone agrees the Medicare physician payment system is broken, and it's time for Congress to do something about it. <a href="https://physiciansgrassrootsnetwork.org/be-heard?vvsrc=%2fCampaigns%2f108965%2fRespond">Please contact your representative and senators and urge them to cancel the cut today!</a></p>
<p>The WSMA is also urging Washington's congressional delegation to sign on to H.R. 2474, the Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act. The legislation applies a permanent inflation-based update to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule conversion factor, which will provide much-needed stability to the Medicare payment system as our members contend with an increasingly challenging environment providing Medicare beneficiaries with access to timely and quality care.</p>
<p>Congress has taken action to mitigate some of the recent MPFS cuts on a temporary basis, however, reimbursement continues to decline. According to an American Medical Association analysis of Medicare trustees data, when adjusted for inflation, Medicare payments to clinicians have declined by 26% from 2001-2023. The failure of the MPFS to keep pace with the true cost of providing care, combined with year-over-year cuts resulting from the application of budget neutrality, sequestration, and a paucity of available alternative payment models and value-based-care models, clearly demonstrates the Medicare payment system is broken. The addition of an inflationary update will provide budgetary stability as clinicians, many of whom are small business owners, contend with a wide range of shifting economic factors, such as increasing administrative burdens, staff salaries, office rent, and purchasing of essential technology.</p>
<p>A full list of congressional representatives who have signed on to H.R.2474 can be found <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/2474/cosponsors?r=38&amp;s=1&amp;q=%7B%22search%22%3A[%22actionDate%3A%5C%22118%7C2023-04-14%5C%22+AND+%28billIsReserved%3A%5C%22N%5C%22+OR+type%3A%5C%22AMENDMENT%5C%22%29%22]%7D">here</a>. If you need help connecting with your congressional representatives, contact the WSMA policy department at <a href="mailto:policy@wsma.org">policy@wsma.org</a>. More information on the Medicare payment cuts can be found at <a href="https://fixmedicarenow.org/resources">fixmedicarenow.org/resources</a>.</p>
</div> | 11/8/2023 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |