Kaitlyn Brittan, MD, the newest chair of the ACR’s RheumPAC Committee, views advocacy as a core principle of caring for patients, with meaningful, real-world impact.
Doctors and patient advocates urged the rheumatology community to address the drastic inadequacies in care faced by marginalized people in a session held at ACR Convergence 2024.
At a busy and highly successful interim meeting of the AMA House of Delegates, an ACR-cosponsored resolution that calls for exceptions to therapy caps was passed and will become AMA policy. Other areas addressed include payment parity for telemedicine and MIPS reform.
The 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule, released Nov. 1, includes a conversion factor of $32.3465, a 2.83% drop from 2024. In response to advocacy efforts from the ACR and other medical societies, Congress recently introduced the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act of 2024, which would eliminate the 2.83% payment cut and provide an inflationary update for 2025 equal to 50% of the Medicare Economic Index.
With a likely Republican majority in the House and Senate and a Republican president, there may be a sense that the party has a mandate to lead initiatives and enact significant policy changes. Any end-of-year legislative package will be narrower than initially expected, but the ACR’s top priority remains addressing cuts to physician reimbursements.
The Alliance for Transparent and Affordable Prescriptions’ board members for the 2024–25 cycle include Marcus Snow, MD, and Howard Blumstein, MD, who both have a strong history of volunteer leadership in the ACR.
The Underwater Biosimilars Coalition shared with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services concerns about problems arising from the average sales price payment methodology and discussed potential options for addressing these challenges.
A letter from 233 bipartisan members of Congress last week urged House leadership to replace the 2.8% cut proposed in the FY2025 Physician Fee Schedule with an annual payment update reflective of inflationary pressures before the end of the year. Boost this effort by contacting your legislator today.
There’s still time to contribute and attend RheumPAC’s event at ACR Convergence 2024. If you haven’t yet made your 2024 donation, this is the best time to do so—thanks to generous champions, every contribution will be amplified.