Advocacy & Practice Updates — Advocacy & Practice
House Hearing Focusing on Healthcare Affordability Emphasizes the Need for Medicare Physician Pay Update
Last week, the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing in its series on healthcare affordability focusing on physician and provider pay. Witnesses, including the AMA and independent physicians, underscored the urgent need to modernize Medicare physician payment by tying annual updates to inflation, such as the Medicare Economic Index (MEI). Witnesses and lawmakers from both parties noted that physician payments have failed to keep pace with rising costs for decades, creating a growing financial gap that threatens the stability of physician practices and, ultimately, patient access to care.
Witnesses testified that declining Medicare reimbursement—combined with rising practice costs, workforce shortages, and increasing administrative burdens—is accelerating consolidation and making it more difficult for independent practices to survive. This trend, they warned, is already limiting access to care for Medicare beneficiaries and contributing to longer wait times, particularly in rural and underserved communities.
(Published 3.24.26)