The ISMA recently joined other state medical associations and national medical societies in signing on to letters from the AMA to congressional leaders concerning the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) and Equitable Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act.

Regarding MACRA, the July 23 letter urged Congress to prioritize and advance several key bills and legislative proposals that provide greater fiscal stability for physicians and reform key elements of the act. The current Medicare Physician Payment System (MPPS) is increasingly unsustainable and the necessary policy reforms can no longer be delayed without severe repercussions for patient access and quality of care. 

 The foundational component of strengthening the current payment system is refining the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) to reflect medical practice's fiscal and clinical realities today accurately. To accomplish this pressing task, the AMA is focusing on four key areas of reform: enacting an annual, permanent inflationary payment update in Medicare that is tied to the Medicare Economic Index (MEI); budget neutrality reforms; an overhaul of MACRA’s Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS); and modifications to Alternative Payment Models (APM).

Read the MACRA letter here.

The AMA also sent a letter opposing the Equitable Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act.

This bill would inappropriately allow pharmacists to perform services that would otherwise be covered if they had been furnished by a physician; test and treat patients for certain illnesses (including illnesses that address a public health need or relate to a public health emergency); and expand Medicare payment for pharmacists in limited but significant ways.

In April, the AMA sent a letter of opposition to the House upon the introduction of the bill. Because the legislation has amassed a considerable number of cosponsors, the AMA believes it is important to show unified opposition to this bill within organized medicine.

View the opposition letter here.