ASCRS is proud to reinforce its commitment to protecting patients, improving their quality of life, and ensuring access to and choice of surgical care by announcing it joined the Surgical Care Coalition as a founding member. As part of this group, ASCRS will support the coalition’s effort to work with Congress to stop planned cuts to Medicare payments that would hurt patients.

ASCRS strongly opposes these cuts, planned by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), that will reduce payments for surgical care and take effect in January 2021. These cuts could force surgeons to take fewer Medicare patients, which would lead to reduced access to care for older Americans and lower their quality of life.

With the other 11 founding members in the coalition, ACSRS wants Congress to waive Medicare’s budget neutrality requirements to prevent the cuts and require CMS to apply the increased evaluation and management (E/M) adjustment to 10- and 90-day and maternity global code values. This will ensure Medicare patients continue to have the best access—to the best care—when they need it and where they need it.

The Surgical Care Coalition commissioned a survey of more than 5,000 surgeons, which found that surgeons are facing serious financial distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the cuts were announced before the pandemic, with the combined impact of the planned CMS cuts and the financial distress due to COVID-19, surgeons and hospitals will face difficult decisions to keep surgical practices afloat.

About The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons

The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) is the premier society for colon and rectal surgeons and other surgeons dedicated to assuring high quality patient care by advancing the science through research and education for prevention and management of disorders of the colon, rectum and anus.

About the Surgical Care Coalition

The Surgical Care Coalition advocates for access to quality surgical care for all Americans. The Surgical Care Coalition is comprised of 12 surgical professional associations that proudly represent more than 150,000 surgeons working across the country with a common goal of improving the quality of care, and quality of life, for all patients. The founding members have met and informally worked together for nearly three decades to promote sound policy solutions to the U.S. Congress and federal regulatory agencies to solve the biggest challenges in health care.