ASCP has been advocating for Medicare payment reform for years, and the Medicare fee schedules paying for the services provided by pathologists and medical laboratory professionals urgently need it. 

Consider the facts:

• Medicare payment for physician services has fallen approximately 26 percent since 2001;
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed this year its fifth straight cut in physician payment rates; and
• CMS has for the last several years proposed cutting laboratory payment rates up to 15 percent for approximately 800 laboratory tests—after three consecutive years (2018-2020) of 10 percent cuts. While Congress has blocked these cuts since 2021 (including for 2025), the threat of future cuts still looms.

Given that private insurers benchmark their payment rates to Medicare’s fee schedules, the need for reform is nothing less than urgent.

Medicare’s current reimbursement system for physician and laboratory services is unsustainable, as they undermine the ability of pathologists, laboratory professionals and other providers to provide patients with high quality care. They also complicate efforts to recruit and retain laboratory staff.  So far, Congress has not addressed the root of the problem—the payment system itself. We need that to change.

How you can help

ASCP is working with both the American Medical Association, the American Clinical Laboratory Association and other professional societies to address Medicare’s flawed payment policies. But to get Congress to make the changes that are needed, we urgently need your help.  That’s why we are asking YOU to please use ASCP’s e-Advocacy Center to tell Congress to Fix Medicare Payment Systems.