Good news for providers! If you’ve been wondering why the 2022 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) was delayed on the CMS site, here’s the reason. The Protecting Medicare & American Farmers bill was introduced following the publication of the PFS Final Rule, providing a combined 9.75% relief package for anticipated Medicare payment cuts. The American Medical Association fiercely advocated for the multiple physician specialties that would have impacted from sharp decrease in payments set to take effect January 1, 2022. The revised conversion factor is set at $34.6062 for 2022, bringing minimal change compared to this year.
Highlights from the bill include:
A delay in resuming the 2% Medicare sequester for three months (Jan. 1–March 31, 2022), followed by a reduction to 1% for three months (April 1–June 30, 2022)
A one-year increase in the Medicare physician payment schedule of 3%
A one-year delay in the cuts to the clinical laboratory payment schedule
A one-year delay in the Medicare radiation oncology demonstration
Prevents the 4% Medicare pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) cut for 2022
You can find the 2022 PFS files here. If your browser only shows the 2021, click the name sort function and 2022 will appear at the top.