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

On June 9, ASE sent a letter to Senate Republican leadership regarding the inclusion of a physician payment reform provision in reconciliation legislation. In the letter, ASE urges the Senate to follow the House by relieving the cuts to Medicare physician payment for 2026 in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1). ASE calls attention to the flawed reimbursement structure in place that has led to improper payment to physicians for the cost of providing care. 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.