There may be a new Congress and new administration in Washington, D.C., but the AMA’s national legislative priority remains the same as 2025 gets underway: Fix Medicare Now.
Since Jan. 1, physicians have been paid 2.83% less than they were in 2024 for the services they provide their Medicare patients. It marks the fifth consecutive year of Medicare physician payment cuts for physicians. That, combined with no adjustments for practice-cost inflation for years, is making it increasingly difficult for physicians—if not impossible for some—to keep their practices open and care for the nation’s oldest patients.
When adjusted for inflation in practice costs, physicians in 2025 are being paid 33% less (PDF) for care to Medicare patients than doctors were paid in 2001, according to AMA research.
To reverse the 2.83% Jan. 1 cut and work toward an annual increase tied to inflation, physicians need bipartisan support in a Congress that Republicans control by a razor-thin margin, Todd Askew, senior vice president of AMA advocacy, said during a webinar exploring how the AMA is positioned in 2025 to effect change on key issues that patients and physicians face.
“That is something that we’ve always done in our advocacy. We have always prioritized bipartisanship. In fact, I think almost every piece of legislation we have supported in the last several Congresses has been bipartisan because we try and grow that support from the center out,” he said.
The next legislative chance to reverse the Jan. 1 cut comes in mid-March, which is the deadline for the 119th Congress to fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year. At the end of 2024, the 118th Congress passed a scaled-back continuing resolution to keep the government running and language that would have stopped the physician Medicare payment cut was removed from the bill.
The AMA is working with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to include language in the legislation that would reverse the cut and make physicians whole going forward for the rest of the fiscal year.
A bipartisan group of 10 House members introduced a bill in late January to stop the 2.83% cut in Medicare payments to physician practices this year while providing a 2% payment update. The AMA strongly supports the legislation and will work with members to include it in upcoming legislation to fund the federal government beyond the March 14 statutory deadline.
Reps. Greg Murphy, MD (R-N.C.), and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), along with eight other House members, introduced H.R. 879, Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act (PDF). This legislation, effective April 1, would prospectively cancel the 2.83% percent cut that took effect Jan 1. Similar legislation enjoyed bipartisan, bicameral support, but Congress failed to address the issue during the lame duck session.
“We are using this bill … to help position ourselves in the best possible way to be in that [March] package to reverse as much of the cuts as possible and to try to get an update,” Jason Marino, AMA director of Congressional affairs said during the recent webinar.
As part of its efforts leading the charge to reform the Medicare payment system, the AMA is working to overhaul the Medicare payment system through legislation that, among other things, would change the way payment is calculated annually by including an annual update for inflation—something that hospitals, nursing homes and other Medicare care providers all already receive.
Lend your physician voice
It is encouraging that many lawmakers, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and the Medicare’s trustees all recognize that the current Medicare payment system is unsustainable. But the changes the AMA is pushing for won’t just happen automatically, Marino said.
Statistics, graphs and charts tell lawmakers part of the story of what is happening as Medicare payment declines, but it’s going to be narratives about real people that drive home the message to lawmakers that behind those statistics are the lives of real people—their constituents—who are feeling the negative impacts of those numbers.
“We need to give Congress a reason to care about these cuts. We need to tell the story about the rural practice on the verge of closing because of these cuts. And they can’t afford to see Medicare patients. I’ve heard some stories from physicians that aren’t even taking a salary. They’re keeping the practice open by not taking a salary because the medical payments are going for their staff and technology. They’re not getting paid. But that’s not sustainable,” Marino said.
Today, physicians are gathering in Washington to kick off the 2025 AMA National Advocacy Conference, which brings organized medicine to the nation’s capital. Physicians and physician advocates can:
- Connect with industry experts, members of Congress and the administration and others about federal efforts to improve health care.
- Advocate on crucial health care issues that impact physicians and patients.
- Attend a special event to “Fix Medicare Now” that the AMA will host of Capitol Hill. Physicians are invited to wear their white coats to the event.
This year, opportunities to meet with members of Congress will also feature a special event to Fix Medicare Now hosted by the AMA on Capitol Hill. Join fellow physicians Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 11, at the historic U.S. House Cannon Caucus Room (390 Cannon House Office Building) and hear directly from the AMA president, chair of the AMA Board of Trustees and federal lawmakers working toward Medicare payment solutions. Speakers will be presenting from 2:30–3:30 p.m. Physicians are invited to wear their white coats to the event. Learn more and register now.
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Askew and Marino encouraged physicians to connect with their elected officials at home, to visit them in Washington at any point in the year, to get to know their office staff and become a trusted source for information on issues that impact patients and physicians.
Doctors can draw on the 2025 AMA National Advocacy Conference action kit (PDF), which outlines the key points to communicate with lawmakers on the need to stop Medicare payment cuts to protect seniors’ access to health care, as well as the urgent need for comprehensive reform.
Online, physicians can make a difference by taking part in the AMA’s Fix Medicare Now campaign, which in 2024 generated nearly 507,000 messages to Congress. The campaign also lets physicians copy or customize ready-to-use messages to use in social media posts and asks physicians to share their stories about why Medicare payment reform is important.
The AMA advocacy team will also this year continue to push for prior authorization reforms to stop insurers from delaying and denying medically necessary care and fight scope of practice expansions that would put patients in harm’s way. Physicians can lend support on all of these issues through the Physicians Grassroots Network.
Comprehensive reforms needed
Bipartisan bills that the AMA supports were introduced in the last session of Congress to make bigger, longer-term fixes to the nation’s largest single health care payer in a system that is already facing widespread physician shortages that threaten patient access to care:
- Strengthening Medicare for Patients Providers Act. This bipartisan bill would give physicians an annual Medicare payment update tied to the Medicare Economic Index.
- Provider Reimbursement Stability Act. This bipartisan bill would reform the Medicare payment schedule budget-neutrality policies.
- Data-Driven Performance Payment System. This AMA-developed statutory proposal would replace the Medicare Incentive-based Payment System’s (MIPS) tournament model of payments adjustments with a more sustainable approach tied to annual payment updates.
The AMA will be working to have similar legislation introduced in the current session of Congress.
The AMA’s Medicare Basics series, provides an in-depth look at important aspects of the Medicare physician payment system. With these six straightforward explainers on budget-neutrality rules, MIPS, the Medicare Economic Index and more, policymakers and physician advocates can learn about key elements of the payment system and why they are in need of reform.
