From the American Academy of Ophthalmology

It only takes 2 minutes to tell your House member to stand up for physicians and their patients.

Physician leaders in Congress need your help to increase pressure on Congress to stop the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from eliminating global surgery payments. If this CMS decision is not reversed, you may see your income drop by 4 percent over night. Use the Academy’s pre-written letter to contact your representative and urge your lawmaker to take action today.

Reps. Larry Bucshon, MD, R-Ind., and Ami Bera, MD, D-Calif., are leading the fight to protect physicians and their patients from a misguided policy that was finalized by CMS last year. The agency announced it will eliminate all 10- and 90- day global surgery codes in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Bundled payments that cover services normally provided by a surgeon before, during, and after a surgical procedure will be broken into a more complicated billing system. This policy will increase administrative burdens on physicians and increase the number of copayments a patient will pay for surgery. The agency intends to reduce payments for post-operative visits from their current values. We estimate that ophthalmologists’ overall income would decrease by at least 4 percent. That’s on top of the penalties many ophthalmologists may face in the coming years from Medicare programs like Meaningful Use.

You have the power to help prevent this from happening. Contact your representative today and ask your lawmaker to sign on to a letter circulated by Reps. Bucshon and Bera that urges House leadership to take action to stop the elimination of global surgery payments.

The Academy, the American College of Surgeons, and other health care organizations are working quickly to pass legislation to protect global surgery payments. The agency’s move to eliminate these payments threatens efforts to improve and coordinate the delivery of quality health care.

If you have any questions, email the Grassroots Coordinator at sbauer@aaodc.org.