Legislation would block Medicare cut, increase 2025 physician reimbursement

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Lawmakers and numerous health and physician organizations are supporting legislation that would increase, not cut, Medicare reimbursement for doctors in 2025.

Physicians in the House of Representatives are among the supporters of the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act. The bipartisan bill would avert a planned 2.8% cut and increases 1.8% to the conversion factor in 2025, relative to the 2024 conversion factor, according to the office of Rep. Greg Murphy, MD (R-North Carolina).

Rep. Greg Murphy, MD (R-North Carolina)

"America's physicians are at a breaking point and access to high-quality, affordable care is at risk for millions of Medicare patients,"Murphy said in a news release. "When a physician sees a Medicare patient, they do so out of the goodness of their heart, not because it makes financial sense. Medical inflation is much higher and the cost of seeing patients continues to rise. 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," he said.

Murphy’s announcement included statements of support from Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-California) and congressional physicians Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, MD (R-Iowa), Rep. Ami Bera, MD (D-California), Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Indiana), Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Washington), and Rep. John Joyce, MD (R-Pennsylvania). Additionally, dozens of health and medical groups back the bill.

Murphy cited the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ estimate of a 3.6% increase in practice cost expenses in 2025. Unless Congress acts, that and the planned decrease in reimbursement will combine for a 6.4% cut next year.

Declining reimbursement and rising wages and operating costs will force physicians to consider layoffs, reduced services or closing offices, Murphy’s announcement said.

The American Medical Association (AMA) and the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) issued statements praising the legislation.

“These annual cuts represent an ever-present creeping decline that threatens the viability of our nation’s medical groups,” said the statement from Anders Gilberg, MGMA’s senior vice president of government affairs. 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," Gilberg said.

Doctors appreciate the determination of Murphy, Panetta, and the other bill sponsors, said AMA President Bruce A. Scott, MD. He noted Congress has just a few legislative days left from now to the start of 2025.

“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’s statement said. “Medicare payment rates have fallen by 29% over the past two decades, when adjusting for the costs of running a practice, threatening patient access and practice viability. Lawmakers need to ask themselves: What rational steps can be taken to strengthen the condition of Medicare?

“We now have the answer. We urge Congress to fix Medicare now," Scott said.