Advocacy & Practice Updates — Advocacy & Practice
Bill to Ease Potential Medicare Physician Payment Cuts Introduced in the House
This week, bipartisan legislation, the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act (H.R. 8163) that would increase the threshold to trigger budget neutrality adjustments in the Medicare physician fee schedule, was reintroduced in the House. Recent cuts and instability in Medicare physician payments have largely been the result of adjustments CMS is required to make to maintain budget neutrality in the fee schedule.
Under current law, when the value or utilization of some physician services in Medicare experience year-to-year changes that result in up to a $20 million difference in spending, CMS must adjust the conversion factor to maintain budget neutrality—usually resulting in across-the-board cuts. If enacted, H.R. 8163 would raise the threshold and index it to inflation to decrease the likelihood of adjustments, and thus annual cuts.
(Published 3.31.26)