October 18, 2023
The Honorable Brett Guthrie | The Honorable Anna Eshoo |
Chairman | Ranking Member |
House Committee on Energy and Commerce | House Committee on Energy and Commerce |
Subcommittee on Health | Subcommittee on Health |
2123 Rayburn House Office Building | 2123 Rayburn House Office Building |
Washington, DC 20515 | Washington, DC 20515 |
Re: MGMA comments – “What’s the Prognosis?: Examining Medicare Proposals to Improve Patient Access to Care & Minimize Red Tape for Doctors”
Dear Chairman Guthrie and Ranking Member Eshoo:
On behalf of our member medical group practices, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) would like to thank the Subcommittee for the opportunity to provide feedback on these important issues and corresponding pieces of legislation. While MGMA is supportive of a fiscally responsible Medicare system that puts patients first, we remain concerned that current policies place unnecessary administrative burdens on medical groups, thus impacting access to care. We appreciate your leadership on this topic and thank you for holding this critical hearing, which will hopefully assist in making sensible improvements to Medicare payment policies and reducing regulatory burden.
With a membership of more than 60,000 medical practice administrators, executives, and leaders, MGMA represents more than 15,000 group medical practices ranging from small private medical practices to large national health systems representing more than 350,000 physicians. MGMA’s diverse membership uniquely situates us to offer the following policy recommendations.
In MGMA’s 2023 Annual Regulatory Burden Report, we surveyed over 350 medical groups and found that 90% of practices saw their overall regulatory burden increase over the past year. Ninety-seven percent of members said a reduction in regulatory burden would allow their practice to reallocate resources toward patient care. We appreciate the Subcommittee’s responsiveness to problems medical groups are facing as many of these bills will work to alleviate these burdens.