Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
A bipartisan group of House physician-lawmakers is rolling out a bill today that would temporarily delay Medicare physician payment cuts scheduled to take effect next year.
Why it matters: It's the first "doc fix" this session geared toward the nearly 3% payment cut for 2025 that physicians warn could potentially jeopardize patient care.
What's inside: Rep. Greg Murphy is the lead sponsor with Reps. John Joyce, Larry Bucshon, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Raul Ruiz, Ami Bera, Kim Schrier and Jimmy Panetta.
- The legislation averts for one year the 2.8% Medicare payment cut for doctors that's slated to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
- It also adds an additional slight inflationary adjustment of 1.8%, which is 50% of the Medicare Economic Index that measures practice cost inflation.
What's next: A partial doc fix is one of the likelier health policies to be addressed during the lame duck session, but longer-term changes to Medicare reimbursements that many members are pushing for seem off the table.
