Government Action

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the AADA has worked diligently with Congress and two presidential administrations to ensure a viable physician workforce throughout the pandemic and once the public health emergency (PHE) ends. Our priorities throughout the PHE were to secure financial relief for small businesses, garner comprehensive liability protections for physicians, maintain access to dermatologic care through telehealth expansion efforts, and avoid Medicare payment cuts. In a win for dermatologists and the broader medical community, President Biden signed legislation on April 14, 2021, that extended the moratorium on the Medicare sequester through the end of 2021.

While this extension provided physician practices with stability in Medicare reimbursement, a month earlier the Congressional budgetary Pay-As-You-Go Act (PAYGO) rule was triggered due to the negative effect on the budget of the American Rescue Plan Act. PAYGO triggered an additional 4% cut to Medicare payments to physicians, hospitals, and other providers in 2022. The AADA has continued the momentum by advocating with Congress to address these problematic cuts, which are unbearable for the medical community while they continue to face uncertainty, strain, and hardship due to the pandemic.

While significant progress has been made to push back Medicare cuts, our advocacy work is not finished yet and the AADA will remain dermatology’s greatest advocate.

Navigate the Coronavirus Resource Center

All content solely developed by the American Academy of Dermatology

Supported by: