Neurosurgeons Join Alliance of Specialty Medicine in Expressing Serious Concerns
About Medicare’s New Physician Quality Payment Program
Urge Senate Finance Committee to Press CMS to Make Substantial Changes Before Finalizing Payment Overhaul
Washington, DC—The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and Congress of Neurological
Surgeons (CNS) joined the Alliance of Specialty Medicine in expressing concerns about the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services’ proposal to overhaul the way Medicare pays physicians at today’s U.S. Senate Finance Committee
hearing, “Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015: Ensuring Successful Implementation of Physician
Payment Reforms.” The proposed rule implements key elements of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization
Act (MACRA), which repealed Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula and replaced it with a new quality
payment program — the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Alternative Payment Models (APM). The
Alliance submitted a statement for the hearing record.
“MACRA presents an unprecedented opportunity to fix the currently broken and burdensome Medicare quality
programs, which have little meaningful impact on quality and have been extremely disruptive to physician practices,”
remarked Shelly D. Timmons, MD, PhD, chair of the AANS/CNS Washington Committee and a practicing
neurosurgeon at Penn State Hershey. “We are pleased that the Senate Finance Committee is conducting this oversight
hearing to ensure that CMS implements the new quality payment program as originally envisioned by Congress.”
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Read full letter here
