The AAMC joined over 130 organizations in a Feb. 10 letter to congressional leadership urging lawmakers to include relief from Medicare payment cuts (PDF) in the upcoming March 2025 appropriations bill. The letter to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) highlighted concerns over a 2.83% reduction in Medicare Physician Fee Schedule payments that took effect on Jan. 1, marking the fifth consecutive year of cuts.
The letter expressed disappointment that Congress did not mitigate these cuts at the end of last year and raised concerns about the ongoing lack of inflationary adjustments for these payments. To address these challenges, the letter urged Congress to pass the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act (H.R. 879), introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Reps. Greg Murphy, MD (R-N.C.) and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.). The bill would fully reverse the 2.83% cut and provide a 2% payment increase for physicians from April 1 to Dec. 31.
The signatories called on Congress to take immediate action, emphasizing that continued payment reductions are unsustainable and threaten the stability of the Medicare program.