The ACR’s 2020 Advocacy Year in Review

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To say it has been an interesting (the science and the memes), tumultuous (the politics) and heartbreaking (the pandemic and social injustice) year is an understatement. There have been moments of grace and inspiration that we hope have kept everyone going. 

As we look to 2021, we take lessons from our experiences in 2020. Washington, D.C., is buzzing, with a new president, new members in the House and Senate, a new Congress (117th) and more COVID-19 legislation negotiations.

2020 ACR Government Affairs Committee Update

A colossal thank you to our Government Affairs Committee (GAC) members, patient advocates, physicians and inter­professional team member advocates for taking advocacy virtual last year during a pandemic and making it a huge success. We are so grateful to the ACR staff and advocates for taking a leap of faith and jumping all in to virtual advocacy. 

Of note, 3,061 emails were sent to Congress on rheumatology issues, 2,052,710 #Act4Arthritis impressions gained on Twitter and 285 meetings held with legislators and ACR/ARP volunteers and patients.

The ACR advocacy team in D.C.—Lennie Shewmaker, JD, director of congressional affairs; Amanda Grimm Wiegrefe, MScHSRA, director of regulatory affairs; and Dan Redinger, manager of advocacy and policy affairs—and in our Atlanta office—Adam Cooper, senior director of government affairs, and Joseph Cantrell, JD, senior manager of state affairs—will continue their efforts on behalf of ACR/ARP members, along with Rachel Myslinski, vice president of practice, advocacy and quality, and the rest of her team.

2021 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule

The win: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the 2021 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, with rheumatologists seeing an estimated boost in reimbursement of 14–15%, to start, in 2021. This was the second largest increase among all medical specialties.

Context: Each year, the CMS releases rules on physician reimbursement. It uses recommendations from the American Medical Association’s Relative Value Scale Update Committee to guide decisions on how to pay physicians from a single pot of money. The CMS valued certain Current Procedural Terminology codes higher, including those often used by some subspecialties, and modified documentation requirements to reduce administrative burdens. 

The Pediatric Subspecialty Loan Repayment Program (PSLRP) was authorized by the CARES Act legislation; however, it is not yet funded.

In this zero-sum game, other specialties were not so fortunate, with losses in surgery, radiology and physical therapy. Given the pandemic and all practices struggling, recent COVID-19 legislation balanced the cuts some providers may see by adding $3 billion in new money to increase Medicare Fee Schedule payments across the board by 3.75% in calendar year 2021.