Physician groups and other advocates for overhauling the Medicare payment system will lose three of their biggest Capitol Hill supporters to retirement next year, raising questions about next steps for long-term changes to the Medicare payment program.
Republican Reps. Larry Bucshon of Indiana, Michael C. Burgess of Texas and Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, all members of the GOP Doctors Caucus, have been vocal in pushing for changes to the way Medicare pays physicians.
The current system has been fraught with controversy, with doctors complaining their rates don’t keep up with inflation and with requirements that payments be budget-neutral, resulting in cuts to doctor pay. Meanwhile, a near decadelong push to embrace value-based care has not panned out.
Burgess, Bucshon and Wenstrup, who are all doctors, have become well-known on Capitol Hill for translating wonky Medicare policies and communicating the needs of fellow physicians to their colleagues, carving out a particular niche issue in Medicare physician payments. Burgess and Wenstrup co-chair the GOP Doctors Caucus with Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C.
“They’ll really be missed,” said Margaret C. Tracci, chair of the advocacy council at the Society for Vascular Surgery.
Burgess, who came to Congress in 2003, is a former chair of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, and Bucshon currently is the vice chair. They, along with Wenstrup, who came to Congress in 2013, owned or worked in private practice and came to the job with experience of not just treating patients but running small businesses and working with Medicare.
Tracci said their experience helped them translate the “very complex issue” of Medicare payment, easing the burden for doctors pressed to explain the complications of the payment system to laymen. “It really creates a lot more work for physicians and for physician advocacy groups to climb that hill again of trying to translate what the needs…
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