AMA offers comments to CMS on its 2019 Medicare reform proposal

CHICAGO — The American Medical Association (AMA) submitted comprehensive comments today to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that outlined recommended changes to the proposed rule on physician payment policies.

In its comments, the AMA compliments CMS for some of the changes—most notably, the regulations that target excessive paperwork—as well as policy changes in digital medicine and alternative payment models.

The AMA’s comments also elaborate on concerns that the AMA and 170 other medical organizations expressed recently about changes to Evaluation and Management (E/M) services. If the proposed rule were adopted, the sickest patients—and the physicians who treat them – would encounter significant obstacles to care.