You may be aware that there are many proposed changes and cuts for Medicare in 2027.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz is proposing severe payment cuts that directly threaten local healthcare access. CMS estimates that the rule will reduce overall Medicare payments for dermatology by approximately 9%.
Slashing payments by 9% will make it much harder for seniors to find doctors who can accept Medicare, leading to longer wait times and delayed treatments when time is of the essence.
Unlike hospitals, physicians and independent practices do not receive an automatic annual inflation update under Medicare. Asking local practices to absorb a 9% cut on top of years of unaddressed operational inflation is completely unsustainable.
While these cuts impact healthcare broadly, two specific proposals in the CY 2027 rule disproportionately impact dermatology:
- 50% Cut to Same-Day Care: CMS proposes an arbitrary 50% payment reduction for evaluation visits provided on the same day as a medically necessary procedure. Same-day care is the gold standard of patient-centered medicine. It enables seniors and rural patients to get a suspicious mole evaluated and biopsied during the very same visit as their other medical concerns, saving travel time and avoiding delays in diagnosis. Existing Medicare valuation rules already adjust for shared overhead during same-day visits. Slashing payment by half penalizes efficient care and jeopardizes Medicare beneficiaries’ access to care.
- Volatile Practice Expense Formula Changes: CMS is proposing to phase out longstanding practice expense indices, arbitrarily redistributing funds away from specialty care. Local practices, which cover 100% of their operational, staffing, and administrative expenses, have zero cushion to absorb these sudden financial shifts.
To protect Medicare beneficiaries’ access to timely care and ensure local practices remain viable, please act by sending a prewritten letter (which you can edit) to your representatives in Congress.
My professional organization, the American Academy of Dermatology, has set up a system for you to do this. It identifies your legislators by your address.
Once you’re at this Contact Congress Now webpage for patients, you can send the message as is, or make edits to the “message body” before you send.
The patient message to legislators includes these two key points:
- Urge CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and agency leadership to withdraw the proposed 50% payment reduction for same-day services.
- Pause proposed changes to practice expense calculations until CMS incorporates meaningful physician input and prevents major payment shifts across specialties.
As an independent physician, I appreciate your support in helping me to remain viable.
