When is this never-ending cycle going to end? On January 1, physicians received another 2.83% payment cut, marking the fifth consecutive year that Medicare physician payment has been cut. In fact, since 2001, when adjusted for inflation, Medicare physician payments have decreased by 33%.
Recently, Congress had the opportunity to address the problem in its most recent spending package but lacked the will to help secure the viability of physician practices and instead threatened access to care for 66 million Medicare patients by not reversing the cuts.
This is simply not sustainable – many physician practices were already hanging on by a thread and this latest round of cuts will only worsen the situation, forcing many struggling practices to make the hard decision of operating at a loss or closing their doors forever.
America’s physicians and patients deserve better - Early this year, Reps. Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), along with a bipartisan group of legislators, re-introduced the "Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act" (H.R. 879). This legislation, if passed, would, effective April 1st, prospectively cancel the 2.83% payment cut that went into effect on January 1, while also providing a 2.0% payment update, helping to stabilize physician practices and protect patients' access to care.
This bipartisan legislation has over 120 cosponsors and was recently endorsed by the Republican "Doc Caucus" and we need your help to get it over the finish line!
Please join the thousands of physicians from across the country who have already taken action by contacting your members of Congress and urge them to pass the "Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act" (H.R. 879) today!
The Medicare physician payment model is hopelessly broken, and these yearly cuts are having a negative impact on physician practices while leaving patients' access to care at risk. It's time Congress finally did something about it!
America's patients are counting on Congress to provide this much-needed relief and work toward achieving long-term Medicare physician payment reform.