Statement attributed to:
Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH
President, American Medical Association

“Since the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC) met last year and first called for increasing physician payment rates based on an inflation-based index for Medicare, Medicare payment rates continued to fall while practice expenses soared.

“The American Medical Association (AMA) has long championed this reform and commends MedPAC for voting this year to again call for lawmakers to adopt an inflation-based update for 2025 as a critical first step toward the necessary work of reforming the broken Medicare payment system.

“Long-term reforms from Congress are overdue to close the unsustainable gap between what Medicare pays physicians and the actual costs of delivering high-quality care. When adjusted for inflation in practice costs, Medicare physician pay declined 26% from 2001 to 2023. It is urgent that Congress act now to reverse the 3.37% Medicare cut that took effect on January 1, 2024, and tie future updates to inflation to prevent the problem from getting worse.

“Medicare reform is a central plank in the AMA Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians and the AMA continues to urge Congress to adopt inflation-based updates to Medicare physician payment by passing H.R. 2474, the Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act.”