The AAMC joined over 100 national medical specialty societies and state medical associations in a May 19 letter (PDF) to Reps. Greg Murphy, MD (R-N.C.) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), urging passage of H.R. 8163, the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act of 2026. Two days later, the House Ways and Means Committee voted unanimously to advance the bill (PDF) during a May 21 markup.
The letter highlighted that Medicare physician payments have fallen approximately 33% in inflation-adjusted terms since 2001, even as practice costs have continued to rise, and that physicians remain the only Medicare provider type without an annual inflationary payment update. The bill addresses several structural flaws in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, including:
- Establishing a two-year look-back period for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to correct utilization misestimates for newly unbundled codes.
- Requiring the agency to update direct cost inputs simultaneously and at least once every five years.
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Raising the budget neutrality threshold from $20 million, which has been unchanged since 1992, to $54.3 million and indexing it to the Medicare Economic Index (MEI).
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Capping year-to-year conversion factor swings at 2.5%.
The letter noted that the bill should be understood as part of a broader reform agenda and that the signing organizations continue to call for a permanent annual inflationary update to physician payments tied to the MEI.