Physicians have spent more than a decade pushing for changes to the Medicare physician payment system so that they have the financial resources to keep caring for the nation’s oldest citizens. But the necessary reforms still haven’t come to fruition.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced the Physician Fee Stabilization Act. The bill would increase the budget-neutrality threshold under the Medicare physician payment schedule to $53 million in 2026, up from $20 million. The bill also would provide regular indexing of the threshold to the Medicare Economic Index.

Medicare payments to physicians should be based on inflation instead of simply cutting reimbursement to doctors, according to the American Medical Association.

The AMA urged the administration to work with Congress to enact a permanent, annual inflation-based update to Medicare physician payments.

With physicians yet again facing a Medicare payment cut, the AMA spearheaded a letter to congressional leaders that all 50 state medical societies and 76 other health organizations joined in signing.

A broken Medicare physician payment system, exacerbated by Biden administration cuts and ignored by our presidential candidates, could trigger a doomsday scenario in our already dire national doctor shortage.

Thanks to advancements in medicine and greater access to health care, Americans are living longer than ever. This is great news, but this progress will be harder to maintain in the years ahead if Medicare doesn’t fix a glaring flaw in how it pays for the care physicians provide.

Inflation-adjusted Medicare pay has fallen nearly 30% this century, and CMS has proposed a 2.8% cut for 2025. Dive deep on how to fix Medicare now.

Established with the intent to control healthcare costs through calculated payments and budget caps, Medicare’s payment model has instead contributed to healthcare inflation and now threatens to compromise patient health.