ASE Sends a Letter of Support for the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act

On April 15, ASE sent a letter to Representatives Murphy, Suozzi, Joyce, Onder, Schneider, Panetta, Miller-Meeks, Schrier, and Kelly expressing strong support for the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act (H.R. 8163). The bipartisan legislation addresses structural flaws in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule that have driven years of payment instability. Key provisions include modernizing the budget neutrality threshold (unchanged since 1992), requiring CMS to correct utilization estimates using actual claims data, mandating regular updates to direct cost inputs for practice expense reimbursement, and capping year-to-year conversion factor changes at 2.5% to guard against sudden payment swings.

Echocardiography practices are particularly affected by Medicare payment instability. Cardiovascular imaging depends on expensive, rapidly evolving ultrasound technology and highly trained professionals whose wages have risen in a competitive labor market, yet CMS has gone years without updating the cost inputs that determine reimbursement. Stable and accurate Medicare payment is essential to preserving patient access to lifesaving cardiac imaging, particularly in rural and underserved communities where practices operate on thin margins and workforce shortages are most severe.