On July 13, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program (QPP) proposed rule. This rule includes updates to payment rates for physicians and other health care professionals, expands the use of telehealth, clarifies evaluation and management (E/M) policies, proposes policies for the 2022 performance year of the QPP, and includes many other provisions.

While the California Medical Association (CMA) staff are analyzing and will develop a summary of the 1,700+ page proposal, we wanted to make you aware of a key issue. Notably, the 2022 Medicare conversion factor would be reduced by approximately 3.89% from $34.8931 to $33.5848. This is largely a result of the expiration of a 3.75% increase to the conversion factor at the end of calendar year 2021. CMA will strongly advocate that Congress stop this significant cut and extend the 3.75% increase for 2022.

For more information:

• Full text of the proposed rule (Please note that the impact table in the proposed rule does not seem to include the 3.75% reduction in the conversion factor.)
• CMS Press Release
• Physician Fee Schedule Fact Sheet
• QPP Fact Sheet