CMS Releases Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2023

July 14, 2022

On July 7, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule for the 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). The MPFS sets physician reimbursement under Medicare and serves as the basis of payment schedules used by most public and private payers. 

Under the proposed rule, CMS would decrease the MPFS conversion factor (CF) by 4.5%, from $34.61 to $33.08. Most of the decrease (3 percentage points) is attributed to the expiration of temporary, COVID-19-related CF increases passed by Congress in 2021 (see p. 769) and 2022 (see p. 3). The rest of the decrease (1.5 percentage points) is attributed to an interplay of changes to evaluation and management (E/M) codes (as recommended by the AMA/Specialty Society RVS Update Committee) and a statutory budget neutrality requirement.  

The MMA recognizes that cuts to physician reimbursement are inconsistent with inflating practice costs and commits to lobbying, alongside the AMA, for more appropriate rates. The MMA will continue to inform its members as additional analyses of this 2,000-page proposed rule are conducted and as lobbying strategies to counter its cuts are developed. 

If you have any questions related to the proposed rule or any payment-related issues, please contact Adrian Uphoff, policy analyst.