Senator introduces bill to boost radiologist pay in Medicare program
Sen. Roger Marshall, MD, R-Kan., introduced legislation on Wednesday to boost Medicare payments for radiologists and other physicians.
The lawmaker is proposing the ‘‘Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act of 2025.’’ This comes after Rep. Greg Murphy, MD, R-N.C., in January introduced the same bill in the U.S. House, which has now gathered 167 co-sponsors.
Marshall—who practiced as an OB-GYN specialist for 25 years before joining Congress—had not issued a statement about the proposal as of late Thursday. His office did not immediately respond to a Radiology Business request for comment.
Anders Gilberg, senior VP of government affairs for the Medical Group Management Association, touted the bill on social media May 7. He said the initial proposal is to increase Medicare physician reimbursement by 8.51% starting on June 1.
“The increase reflects a prorated reversal of the 2.83% Medicare cut physician practices have endured since the beginning of 2025 as well as an inflation-based update,” wrote Gilberg, whose organization represents over 15,000 group practices and 350,000 physicians in radiology and other specialties. “MGMA strongly supports this important legislation and appreciates Sen. Marshall’s strong voice in the Senate on behalf of physician group practices.”
S. 1640 currently has no listed co-sponsors, and the text of the bill had not been filed on Congress.gov as of late Thursday. It has been referred to the Senate Committee on Finance for further evaluation, congressional records indicate.
Rep. Murphy’s bill has drawn support in imaging, including endorsements from the American College of Radiology, American Society of Neuroradiology and Society of Interventional Radiology. Eighty healthcare organizations including all 50 state medical associations previously urged lawmakers to pass the Murphy bill ahead of a possible government shutdown.
“The time for legislative action is now,” ACR et al. wrote to Congress in February. “America’s physicians and the millions of patients we treat can no longer accept any excuses—such as an overcrowded legislative calendar, competing policy priorities, or an inability to achieve bipartisan consensus—as reasons for not including provisions that reverse the latest round of cuts and provide a crucial payment update in next appropriations package.”
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.