- CMS released their Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for CY2025, which implemented a new cut of 2.8% to physician reimbursement.
- STS is working with Congress to implement broad structural reforms.
- CMS proposed a mandatory payment model that includes coronary artery bypass graft surgery and four other procedures.
- STS engaged CMS and the US Preventive Services Taskforce to urge them to liberalize their lung cancer screening guidelines, together with GO2 Lung Cancer and the American College of Radiology.
- The Supreme Court overruled “Chevron Deference,” a precedent that has long empowered government agencies to be the key decision makers when laws are ambiguous.
Despite the rapidly evolving presidential political scene, Washington remains uncharacteristically busy this election year.
Just this week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released their annual Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for CY2025, which, unfortunately, but predictably, implemented a new unsustainable cut of 2.8% to physician reimbursement. Medicare payments desperately need a major overhaul and STS is working with Congress to implement broad structural reforms. Learn more about the rule's contents and STS’s advocacy focused on the fee schedule.
This followed STS's submission of extensive comments to CMS in response to the annual hospital payment rule for FY25, formally known as the Inpatient Prospective Payment System. In this rule, CMS proposed a mandatory payment model that includes coronary artery bypass graft surgery and four other procedures. This Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) will impact certain geographic regions starting in 2026. STS gave in-depth feedback, urging caution about the mandatory nature of TEAM and providing input on ways to improve the proposal.
Last month, STS also engaged CMS and the US Preventive Services Taskforce, to urge them to liberalize their lung cancer screening guidelines. We did so together with GO2 Lung Cancer and the American College of Radiology. In a joint letter, STS formally requested reconsideration of the National Coverage Determination for screening lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography, asking to eliminate the exclusion criteria of current smokers or people who have quit smoking within the last 15 years and the upper age limit. Learn more.
On the other side of Capitol Hill, the Supreme Court made significant waves that will impact health policy for decades by overruling “Chevron Deference,” a 40-year-old precedent that has long empowered government agencies to be the key decision makers when laws are ambiguous. The new ruling will likely constrain the power of agencies like CMS going forward, enabling the courts to arbitrate vague language in law. This could impact many STS advocacy priorities, for example, strengthening a legal challenge against FTC’s recently finalized non-compete ban. Learn more.