MSSNY Physician Leaders Meet with NY Congressional Delegation on Capitol Hill to Discuss Critical Federal Issues
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MSSNY physician leaders and staff conducted in-person meetings with several members of the New York Congressional Delegation on Tuesday, February 24 and Wednesday, February 25 to discuss a range of pressing federal issues that impact physicians and patient access. Among the issues discussed:
- Medicare: MSSNY leaders stressed to New York Congressional Delegation members the importance of stable and adequate Medicare physician payments and offered several policy solutions including requiring an inflationary update for payments which have dropped 33% since 2001, reforming flawed budget neutrality rules instead of spending billions on short-term patches that create financial instability in the Medicare program, and restructuring the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) by ending “tournament” penalty/bonus model and ensure timely data feedback.
- Prior Authorization Reform: Prior Authorization, the practice of insurance companies reviewing and often denying coverage of medical services and prescription medications prior to treatment, is a major frustration for physicians and a leading cause of physician burnout, that also creates barriers to care for patients. To help address this, MSSNY asked their members of the House of Representatives and Senators to support H.R.3514/S.1816, which will reduce administrative burdens placed on providers by requiring Medicare Advantage plans to report to CMS the extent of their use of prior authorization, and several other key policy changes to ensure patient access. The bill passed the House of Representatives in the 117th Congress but did not move in the Senate.
- Medicaid: As recent changes to federal Medicaid funding as passed in the “One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB, H.R.1)” in July 2025 begins to take effect, New York is bracing for the impact it will have on its Essential Plan and the state’s request to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to revert to the New York Basic Health Program. MSSNY physician leaders asked their congressional representatives to support the state’s request along with state flexibility and technical assistance for smooth transitions and to reduce provider liability, and to monitor patient and provider impact especially in rural and safety-net settings.
MSSNY physician leaders that took part in Hill visits were also in Washington as part of the American Medical Association’s (AMA) annual National Advocacy Conference (NAC) and included MSSNY President Dr. David Jakubowciz, Dr. Michael Brisman, Dr. Gregory Pinto, Dr. Jessica Krant, Dr. Anna Heffron, Dr. Sophia Spadafore, Dr. James Satterfield, Dr. James Docherty, Dr. Sunitha Polepalle, Dr. Victor Arrurana, Dr. Rachel Schaefer, Dr. Nicholas Dushaj, Dr. Donna Dalessandro, Dr. Shivani Mehta, and Dr. Stanley Nkemjika. Joining them were MSSNY’s Executive Vice President Dr. Tom Lee and MSSNY’s Vice President of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Zina Cary.
