PCC CEO Ann Greiner Responds to Congress' Failure to Stop Primary Care Payment Cuts

Statement by Ann Greiner, President and CEO of the Primary Care Collaborative, Regarding Congress’ Failure to Prevent Medicare Primary Care Pay Cuts in the Omnibus (pdf)

“Despite purporting to ‘fund the government,’ Congress now seems ready to defund every primary care practice serving Medicare Part B patients through across-the-board Medicare payment cuts.

“A few precious hours away from adjournment, lawmakers and stakeholders ought to be trumpeting bipartisan wins around mental health, cost-sharing relief, and maternal health.  They should be celebrating these wins as early progress toward the bolder policy changes needed to shore up primary care.

“Instead, a penny-wise, pound-foolish approach to budgeting will undermine the viability of small, independent and rural primary care practices, especially those in underserved communities.  And as with the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) of the past, the resulting perennial payment uncertainty will hamper the transition to integrated mental health and new models of population-based payment. 

“No matter who we are or where we live, primary care is foundational for the health of our families and our communities. It is the one part of health care that consistently improves outcomes and reduces gaps across populations.  

“Congress should #stopthefullcut to Medicare primary care. America’s primary care practices and their Medicare patients deserve nothing less.”