MMA Leaders Meet with Klobuchar, Staff of Other Congress Members

February 23, 2023

While attending the AMA National Advocacy Conference February 13 to 15 in Washington, D.C., MMA leadership met with members of Minnesota’s Congressional delegation and urged their support of key federal legislation. 

Leaders in attendance included President Will Nicholson, MD; President-elect Laurel Ries, MD; MMA Board Chair Edwin Bogonko, MD; and MMA CEO Janet Silversmith. 

The leaders met with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and staff from the offices of Sen. Tina Smith, Rep. Tom Emmer, Rep. Brad Finstad, Rep. Dean Phillips and Rep. Betty McCollum. Among the key requests were support for an inflationary adjustment to Medicare physician payments, noting that physicians are the only Medicare provider without such an automatic payment adjustment.  

MMA Board Chair Edwin Bogonko, MD (left); MMA President Will Nicholson, MD; and MMA President-elect Laurel Ries, MD; wait for a meeting with Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

The MMA leaders also shared recent data that 20% of Minnesota physicians are expected to leave the workforce within the next five years, asking Minnesota delegation members to support legislation to increase the number of Medicare-funded residency slots, and to reauthorize the Conrad 30 Waiver Program, which allows J-1 foreign medical graduates (FMGs) to stay in the US longer. Klobuchar is the chief author of the legislation to reauthorize the program. 

Other topics raised during congressional visits included prior authorization, addiction treatment capacity, and the MMA’s recent policy to support decriminalization of simple drug possession.  

“The opportunity to inform members of Congress how their policy actions directly affect our patients is invaluable,” said Nicholson. “We were able to translate the data and policy they see into real patient and physician experiences. I was also very blunt - physicians felt abandoned when Congress allowed Medicare payments to be cut by 2% beginning on January 1, after nearly three years of incredibly intense work and sacrifices by physicians. We know the solutions are not easy, but they needed to hear that message.”