Tell your representative: Co-sponsor H.R. 7961
The bipartisan “H-1Bs for Physicians and the Healthcare Workforce Act” (H.R. 7961) aims to exempt physicians and other health care professionals from the $100,000 filing fee on new H-1B visa petitions.
International medical graduates make up about one in four practicing physicians in the U.S. and are often the backbone of care in underserved areas with higher rates of poverty and chronic disease. Without this legislation, the exorbitant fee that employers must pay for H-1B visa holders adds significant costs for hospitals and private practices, making it more difficult to hire physicians and other health care professionals. The added cost will worsen physician shortages, increase wait times and force patients to travel farther for care.
International medical graduates are essential to meeting the projected U.S. shortage of 86,000 physicians by 2036 and ensuring Medicare patients and underserved populations have timely access to care. Independent physician practices, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Rural Health Clinics and nonprofit hospitals are already struggling to keep up with patient demand.
In response, Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY), Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-GA), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Yvette Clarke (D-NY) have introduced this bipartisan legislation to protect physicians and our country's most vulnerable patients.
Tell your representative to co-sponsor H.R. 7961.
If this fee remains, thousands of patients and physicians will suffer. Join us and lend your voice today to ensure that international medical graduates can continue providing the high-quality care that all Americans deserve.
AMA analysis reveals shifts in how physicians have been compensated over the past decade
A new Policy Research Perspective (PDF) based on the nationally representative AMA Physician Practice Benchmark Survey examines how physicians were compensated by their practices over the past decade. The findings reveal a significant move toward blended compensation models, with the percentage of physicians compensated by two or more methods increasing from 51.0% in 2014 to 60.8% in 2024. These blended models typically combine salary-based approaches with bonuses and/or productivity-based incentives, suggesting most physicians now benefit from the stability of a salary while maintaining the potential upside of their productivity. The report also examines differences across physician employment status, gender, specialty and practice type. Please visit the AMA website for more research based on the Benchmark Survey.
Senate HELP Committee holds member day hearing
On March 19, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held what is called a member day hearing which allows both on- and off- committee Senators to present legislative priorities to the committee for consideration. Key topics included health care cost transparency, maternal and women's health, drug supply chain, health care workforce development, and many AMA priorities and AMA-supported legislation.
AMA-supported legislation covered in the hearing included:
The Supporting Healthy Moms and Babies Act, which would eliminate out-of-pocket childbirth costs under employer-sponsored health insurance
The Help Co-Pays Act, which requires pharmacy benefit managers to count co-pay assistance toward patients' cost-sharing obligations
The Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act, which improves transparency and reduces unnecessary delays in patient care by facilitating the expansion of electronic prior authorization in Medicare Advantage
The REDI Act, which would defer student loan interest for medical and dental residents in training
The SPARC Act, which creates a loan forgiveness for specialists serving in rural shortage areas
The AMA continues to work with the sponsor offices and the committee to see these pieces of legislation get across the finish line this Congress.
2025 QPP data submission period closes March 31
The Quality Payment Program (QPP) data submission period for the 2025 performance year is open until March 31 at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
How to submit and review your 2025 data
Follow the steps outlined below to submit data:
Go to the QPP website sign in page.
Sign in using your QPP access credentials.
Submit your data for the 2025 performance year or review the data reported on your behalf by a third party.
You cannot correct errors with your data after the submission period, so it is important to make sure the data submitted on your behalf is accurate.
Submission resources are available now on the QPP Resource Library.
