SCC Campaign to Prevent Medicare Payment Cuts Marches Forward

On June 18, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), along with 10 other national surgical associations, officially launched the Surgical Care Coalition (SCC). The coalition represents more than 150,000 surgeons and was formed to prevent steep Medicare payment cuts in 2021, which may lead to reduced access to care for older Americans. The AANS and the CNS are asking Congress to waive Medicare’s budget neutrality requirements to prevent the cuts and to require the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to apply the increased evaluation and management (E/M) payment adjustments to all 10- and 90-day global surgery codes.

Since the launch, the coalition has been working on converting information that was gleaned from its member survey into news stories and op-eds in national and local newspapers in targeted states. Additionally, the coalition has begun its paid digital media campaign. Finally, the AANS, CNS and coalition partners will be ramping up their grassroots efforts, urging Congress to prevent the cuts and adjust the global surgery code values.

To stay informed about the SCC’s activities, neurosurgeons are encouraged to sign-up for the coalition’s advocacy newsletter. Thus far, the coalition has issued four newsletters, on July 2, July 16, July 30 and Aug. 13.

Click here to subscribe to the SCC advocacy update newsletter.

Neurosurgeons are also encouraged to follow the coalition on Twitter and LinkedIn.