ASE Sends Letter to Republican House Leaders Regarding Physician Payment in Reconciliation Legislation

On June 9, ASE sent a letter to House Republican leadership regarding the inclusion of a physician payment reform provision in reconciliation legislation. In the letter, ASE thanks Speaker Mike Johnson for including a single 75% Medicare Economic Index (MEI) update for 2026 in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1). Additionally, the society applauds the provision of a long-term update of 10% MEI beyond 2026. This letter builds on one of ASE’s main policy priorities- protecting physician reimbursement for Medicare. Practices have been subject to annual cuts for five years, which has threatened physicians’ ability to provide continued, quality patient care to America’s most vulnerable populations. ASE supports short-term solutions to relieve the yearly cuts to the conversion factor. However, the Society strongly believes in a long-term reform to the physician payment system through an annual inflationary update to the conversion factor (CF) based on the Medicare Economic Index (MEI) to ensure practices can keep pace with rising health care costs. While ASE appreciates the 10% MEI bump, the society urges Congress to use this fix as a starting point to implement fundamental change in reimbursement to accurately reflect the cost of providing quality cardiovascular care.