Medicare Updates to 2022 Fee Schedule Reflect Provisions to Reduce Payment Cuts

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced an updated conversion factor (CF) of $34.61 and revised 2022 payment rates for services paid under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). These updates are, in part, a result of ongoing advocacy by ASHA and a large coalition of stakeholders who supported recently-enacted legislation, the Protecting Medicare and Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act (P.L. 117-71), that significantly reduced payment cuts by approximately 8%. As a result, ASHA estimates audiologists will now see an overall 2% decrease in 2022 payments and speech-language pathologists will experience a cumulative 3% decrease, due to other policies implemented in the 2022 MPFS.

ASHA’s MPFS resources for audiologists and SLPs are available on the Medicare outpatient payment page and reflect the new CF and 2022 payment rates. The documents also provide a detailed description of how the payment adjustments are applied and include 2021 rates for comparison to help audiologists and SLPs estimate the impact of the payment updates.

Get Involved!

Our work is by no means finished. ASHA remains fully engaged in fighting any cuts to Medicare reimbursement. While far from ideal, P.L. 117-71 reduces near-term Medicare payment cuts—which could have been as high as 10% or more—allowing additional time for ASHA to continue working toward a long-term policy solution.

Learn more about ASHA’s ongoing efforts to stop the Medicare payment cuts and join the fight to convince Congress to more fully address these cuts by urging support for the Supporting Medicare Providers Act of 2021 (H.R. 6020/S. 3314).

ASHA Resources

• Updated 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for Audiologists [PDF]
• Updated 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for Speech-Language Pathologists [PDF]
• Learn more about ASHA’s advocacy efforts to address the cuts

Questions?

Please email reimbursement@asha.org.