Radiology groups urge Congress to pass bill that would cap pay cuts in Medicare

Radiology groups on Tuesday urged Congress to pass legislation that would cap physician pay cuts in the Medicare program. 

The American College of Radiology, Society of Interventional Radiology and American Society of Neuroradiology made their plea to leaders in the U.S. House this week. They signed the message as part of a coalition of numerous doc groups including the Medical Group Management Association, which highlighted the letter in a May 19 news update.

ACR et al. are asking Reps. Greg Murphy, MD, R-N.C., and Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., to push for passage of the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act of 2026, which now has 36 co-sponsors. First introduced by Murphy, a practicing surgeon, in March, the legislation would blunt Medicare cuts rads and other physicians have faced in the federal payment program. 

“This legislation represents a necessary step toward building a more rational, predictable Medicare physician payment system that preserves patient access to care and reflects the true cost of delivering high-quality medical services,” the doc groups wrote. 

The bill proposes limiting annual fluctuations to the conversion factor, used to calculate physician payments, to 2.5%. In addition, the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act would increase the budget neutrality threshold from $20 million to $54.3 million. It also would index this threshold to the cumulative percentage increase in the Medicare Economic Index—a measure of practice cost inflation—every five years, among other changes.

ACR, SIR, ASNR and others cited the commonly used statistic from the American Medical Association—that Medicare reimbursement has fallen 33% since 2001, when adjusting for inflation. This as the costs of running a medical practice has “continued to climb.” Physicians are the only provider type that does not receive an annual payment update tied to inflation. At the same time, budget neutrality requirements governing the physician fee schedule have “compounded this problem, triggering across-the-board conversion factor reductions that undermine the financial stability of physician practices year after year.”

“We strongly support the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act and urge its prompt passage,” the letter concluded. “This legislation should be understood as part of a broader reform agenda, and we continue to call for an annual inflationary update to Medicare physician payments tied to the MEI. Together, these reforms would go far toward establishing a Medicare physician payment system that is adequate, stable, predictable and reflective of the actual costs of delivering care.”

Others signing the message included the American Society for Radiation Oncology, American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, and the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. The AMA also separately urged action on Medicare payment reform at a House hearing held Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the American College of Surgeons, which also signed the message, recently published a piece in Health Affairs discussing budget neutrality and questioning Medicare’s moves to prioritize primary care, to the detriment of other medical specialties.