Representatives John Joyce, MD (R-PA), Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC) and Kim Schrier, MD (D-WA), chairs of the GOP and Democratic Doctors' Caucuses, introduced the bipartisan Patients First Act.
APMA has endorsed the bill. It would add an annual inflationary update to Medicare physician payment, increase the Medicare budget neutrality threshold, and reform the Medicare Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) to reduce administrative burden and better support solo practices.
The bill would:
- Establish an annual reimbursement update tied to inflation by using the Medicare Economic Index (MEI) minus one point.
- Increase the decades-old budget neutrality threshold from $20 million to $54.3 million to prevent marginal cost increases from triggering across-the-board Medicare payment cuts that hinder patient access.
- Create a task force at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to replace the burdensome Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) with a new system called the Patient Outcome Improvement National Tabulation System (POINTS).
If enacted, the Patients First Act would provide much-needed reform to how Medicare pays physicians.
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