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A bipartisan group of House members introduced a bill Tuesday that would reverse a proposed 2.8% Medicare Physician Fee Schedule payment cut and give physicians a raise equivalent to half of the increase in the Medicare Economic Index (MEI), a measure of healthcare inflation.

"America's physicians are at a breaking point and access to high-quality, affordable care is at risk for millions of Medicare patients," Rep. Greg Murphy, MD (R-N.C.), one of the bill's co-sponsors, . "When a physician sees a Medicare patient, they do so out of the goodness of their heart, not because it makes financial sense ... Unfortunately, reimbursements continue to decline, putting immense pressure on doctors to retire, close their practices, forgo seeing new Medicare patients, or seek a less efficient employment position. This bipartisan legislation would stop yet another year of reimbursement cuts, give them a slight inflationary adjustment, and protect Medicare for physicians and patients alike."

Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), another bill co-sponsor, noted that "Medicare payments to physicians are just not keeping pace with our economic realities and the cost of care."

"Our bipartisan legislation would not only prevent harmful cuts but also would adjust provider reimbursements for inflation," he added. "Such a law would expand seniors' access to quality healthcare by helping medical providers continue their care for Medicare beneficiaries."

The press release lists several hundred medical groups as supporters of the legislation; it also notes that when adjusted for inflation, Medicare reimbursement for physician services has declined 29% from 2001 to 2024, with some doctors already cutting back on seeing Medicare patients. The bill would get rid of the pending 2.8% cut and instead would give clinicians a pay bump of 1.8%, which is half of the 3.6% MEI increase projected for 2025.

The bill's introduction "is a vital sign that Congress is poised to act," Bruce Scott, MD, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement. "Lawmakers must take action during the lame duck session ... In medicine, we are accustomed to making rational decisions based on the conditions of our patients. We are simply asking Congress to do the same."

Scott noted that the bill builds on an October 11 letter signed by 233 House members urging their leadership to pass legislation to rescind the Medicare cut.

"Increased instability in the healthcare sector due to looming cost hikes impacts the ability of physicians and clinicians to provide the highest quality of care and threatens patient access to affordable healthcare," the letter read. "In lieu of these harmful cuts, which, absent federal legislation, will take effect on January 1, 2025, Congress must pass a bill providing physicians and other clinicians with a payment update that takes into account the cost of actually delivering care to patients."

The Medical Group Management Association "strongly supports" the legislation, Anders Gilberg, the group's senior vice president for government affairs, . (Disclosure: Gilberg is a member of the MedPage Today editorial board.) "We urge Congress to quickly return from recess to pass this critical legislation ... These annual cuts represent an ever-present creeping decline that threatens the viability of our nation's medical groups. The fact that physicians must rely on Congress each year for a last-minute payment fix underscores just how broken the Medicare reimbursement system is. Moving forward, Congress must enact permanent, commonsense reforms that enable medical groups to keep their doors open and protect patients' access to care."

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