This Legislation Would Halt Pay Cut Now Impacting Most Physician Services

“The 2.5% reduction to work RVUs – the so-called ‘efficiency adjustment’ – must be delayed until CMS is able to produce empirical evidence that an across-the-board reduction is appropriate. That’s our message to Congress. Please contact your Representatives today.”

Jamieson M. Bourque, MD, MHS, FASNC
ASNC President

Last week, legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to stop the 2.5% cut to Medicare work relative value units (RVUs) for all non-time-based physician fee schedule services that took effect Jan. 1, 2026. The cut stems from a new “efficiency adjustment” policy finalized by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) last November. CMS instituted the policy based on the assumption that, for non-time-based services, providers accrue gains in efficiency with experience.

The Efficiency Adjustment Delay Act (H.R. 7520) was introduced by Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS) and Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-NY) with the support of ASNC and 37 other medical societies.

The legislation is an effort to curtail CMS’s sweeping policy that affects more than 90% of physician services. Moreover, under current regulations, the efficiency adjustment will be recalculated and applied every 3 years in perpetuity.

If passed, the legislation would stop the application of the efficiency adjustment until at least Jan. 1, 2030. In the intervening time, CMS would be required to supply evidence supporting the application of an across-the-board adjustment to work RVUs. If an adjustment were found to be justified, then legislative guardrails would ensure the adjustment could be applied only one time and would exempt services that had been revalued or reviewed in the preceding 10 years.

The legislation would also preserve and build into the conversion factor baseline the 2026 positive 0.49% adjustment caused by the efficiency adjustment.

Call to Action: Ask Your Members of Congress to Cosponsor the Legislation

Congressional lawmakers need to hear from you to understand the long-term impact of the efficiency adjustment on physicians. Take action today using the template letter developed by ASNC for you to personalize.

Contact Congress