Lawmakers propose bipartisan bill to undo physician Medicare pay cut
Members of Congress on Friday proposed a bipartisan bill to undo the physician Medicare pay decrease that took effect on Jan. 1.
Due to balanced-budget provisions—which necessitate spending reductions to account for increases elsewhere—the federal payment program enacted a 2.83% cut to the conversion factor used to calculate radiologist reimbursements. However, lawmakers led by Rep. Greg Murphy, MD, R-N.C., have now proposed the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act to reverse this change.
When factoring for inflation, physicians saw their Medicare pay fall roughly 33% between 2001 and 2025, members of Congress noted. This includes a roughly 3.6% projected increase in practice costs in 2025 alone.
"Doctors see Medicare patients out of compassion, not for financial gain,” Murphy, a practicing surgeon, said in a statement shared Jan. 31. “The cost of caring for a Medicare patient far outpaces the reimbursement that physicians receive for seeing them. On top of that, the expense of providing care continues to rise due to medical inflation.”
Murphy and other members of the House also proposed the same measure in October, but it failed to find passage before the 118th Congress adjourned in January. Physician lobbying groups such as the American Medical Association and Medical Group Management Association praised the proposal on Friday. They also continue to fight for an annual physician pay increase tied to inflation—something the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission endorsed earlier this month.
Lawmakers have until mid-March to pass legislation and avoid a government shutdown when December’s temporary funding measure expires.
“The clock is ticking,” AMA President Bruce A. Scott, MD, said in a statement. “Physicians are healers first, but we are asking them to become vocal advocates for their patients over the next 45 days by contacting their members of Congress and urging them to include this bill in the next spending package. Patients, particularly Medicare recipients and anyone with a family member on Medicare, should do likewise.”
Nine other members of Congress also are co-sponsoring the bill alongside Murphy. They include Reps. Ami Bera, MD, D-Calif., John Joyce, MD, R-Pa., Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., Carol Miller, R-W.V., Mariannette Miller-Meeks, MD, R-Iowa, Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., Raul Ruiz, MD, D-Calif., Kim Schrier, MD, D-Wash., and Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.