The Texas Medical Association has joined more than 125 medical organizations supporting newly introduced legislation to stop a planned 2.8% Medicare pay cut for 2025 and provide physicians with a 12-month rate increase in hopes of moving medicine closer to a permanent system fix.
This is the fifth consecutive year that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a fee schedule proposing reduced payments to physicians, which the agency is expected to finalize in November and a reversal of which would require congressional intervention. In response to advocacy by TMA, the American Medical Association, and others, a majority of U.S. House of Representatives members recently signed on to a letter urging House leadership to take action before the current session ends Jan. 3.
Shortly after, Rep. Greg Murphy, MD (R-N.C.) and Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) introduced House Resolution 10073, the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act of 2024, which immediately stops the pending 2025 cut and in its place proposes a 12-payment modest increase that aligns with a recommendation made by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission in June, even before CMS first announced plans for a 2025 cut.
"Having an outdated Medicare reimbursement rate for physicians makes it harder for health care professionals to provide high-quality care, putting patients at risk," co-sponsor Rep. Ami Bera, MD (D-Calif.) said in a joint press release.
"Physicians, unlike the rest of the players in health care, have never received an inflationary update and consistently received cuts,” he added. “This bill ensures a more stable Medicare payment system, allowing providers to focus on delivering care rather than worrying about losing their practice. With this bipartisan effort, we are working toward a system that supports both patients and doctors."
Medicine’s ultimate goal remains to pass the comprehensive reforms included in House Resolution 2474 that would institute an annual, permanent inflationary payment update tied to the full Medicare Economic Index (MEI).
Meantime, HR 10073 provides a stopgap, says David Henkes, MD, chair of the Texas Delegation to American Medical Association.
“It’s a good start,” he said. “There's still a concern about the short [one-year] time period, as well as the increase being just 50% of MEI, which is basically helping to tread water. This is along the right lines, there's no question, but it should be a permanent fix, and hopefully that would be done after the new Congress starts.”
Robert Bennett, TMA’s vice president of medical economics, believes passage of HR 10073 would set a precedent for the next Congress to pass legislation tying Medicare physician payment to an inflationary update.
TMA urges physicians to contact their U.S. representatives to act on HR 10073 with a ready-made message by responding to a newly launched action alert.
Stay up to date on TMA’s ongoing federal advocacy efforts and get the latest Medicare advocacy resources in the Medicare Payment Reform Center.
Phil West
Associate Editor
(512) 370-1394
phil.west[at]texmed[dot]org
Phil West is a writer and editor whose publications include the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Austin American-Statesman, and San Antonio Express-News. He earned a BA in journalism from the University of Washington and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin’s James A. Michener Center for Writers. He lives in Austin with his wife, children, and a trio of free-spirited dogs.