Thursday, December 9, 2021, the Senate passed legislation that will stop Medicare payment cuts from going into effect next year. The bill had passed the House earlier this week.

President Biden is expected to now sign the bill into law. The new law will include the following changes for the 2022 Medicare physician payment schedule:

• A one-year 3% increase to the physician payment conversion factor for 2022, making this only a 0.75% reduction from the 2021 conversion factor boost.
• The 2% sequestration will be phased:
  • A partial, 1% sequestration will be implemented April 1^st
  • the full 2% sequestration will be implemented July 1^st, and will remain until the sequestration system expires in 2031.
• Removal of the 4% Medicare pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) cut through 2022.
• One-year delay in cuts to the clinical laboratory payment schedule.
• Postpone the Medicare Radiation Oncology Model for one year.