FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Statement attributable to:
Gary L. LeRoy, MD
President
American Academy of Family Physicians
“The American Academy of Family Physicians is pleased that a federal appeals court ruled the Department of Health and Human Services has the authority to implement site-neutral payments.
“The AAFP is part of the Alliance for Site Neutral Payment and Consumers First and has long advocated for Congress and CMS to create incentives for health care services to be performed in the most cost-effective location, such as a physician’s office.
“The AAFP called on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to implement site-neutral payments in the 2020 Outpatient Prospective Payment System rule. Payment disparities across different sites of service create unjustified financial stress on patients, community-based physicians and the Medicare program.
“The cost of services should be the same regardless of the care setting patients choose. We are gratified that the legal roadblock to this work has been removed.
Editor's Note: To arrange an interview with Dr. LeRoy, contact Megan Moriarty, 913-302-8627, or mmoriarty@aafp.org.
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Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents 136,700 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the largest medical society devoted solely to primary care. Family physicians conduct approximately one in five office visits -- that’s 192 million visits annually or 48 percent more than the next most visited medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide more care for America’s underserved and rural populations than any other medical specialty. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care. To learn more about the specialty of family medicine, the AAFP's positions on issues and clinical care, and for downloadable multi-media highlighting family medicine, visit www.aafp.org/media. For information about health care, health conditions and wellness, please visit the AAFP’s award-winning consumer website, www.familydoctor.org