The following statement is attributable to:
Bruce A. Scott, M.D.
President, American Medical Association

“In the 3,088 pages and thousands of statistics included in the final rule of the 2025 Medicare physician fee schedule released today, there are two numbers that stand out: 2.8 and 3.5.

 “The 2.8 is the percent payment cut for physicians that is scheduled to take place next year.  The 3.5 is the estimated percent rise in the Medicare Economic Index, which is the government’s measure to gauge increases in the costs of physicians delivering care to our Medicare patients.

 “To put it bluntly, Medicare plans to pay us less while costs go up. You don’t have to be an economist to know that is an unsustainable trend, though one that has been going on for decades. For physician practices operating on small margins already, this means it is harder to acquire new equipment, harder to retain staff, harder to take on new Medicare patients, and harder to keep the doors open, particularly in rural and underserved areas.

 “This is where we physicians once again find ourselves. In its September comment letter (PDF) to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the AMA said the administration should work with Congress to enact a permanent, annual inflation-based update to Medicare physician payments. 

 “Now there are only a precious few legislative days left. Unless Congress acts during the lame duck, the cuts will go through. Physicians and patients are watching, wondering if Congress is up to the task of fixing this broken reimbursement system. Thankfully, there are signs that lawmakers recognize the gravity of the situation.

 “In recent days, a bipartisan collection of 233 members signed a Dear Colleague (PDF) that called for a legislative fix to the cut and a payment update to reflect inflationary pressures. Now a bipartisan bill has been introduced in the House that would stop the pending cuts and provide a reimbursement update that offsets at least a portion of the anticipated increased cost of providing care.

“The end-of-year panic over pending Medicare cuts faced by physicians year after year is getting old for patients, physicians and members of Congress. There needs to be a systematic reform that makes Medicare payment rational, predictable and sustainable. Unfortunately, for the last many years the only predictable thing has been that physicians must brace themselves for another round of cuts. Medicare payment rates have fallen by 29 percent (PDF) over the past two decades, when adjusting for the costs of running a practice, leaving physicians struggling to figure out how they can continue to provide needed care to their elderly and chronically ill patients. 

“The fee schedule rule released today starts the clock—with Jan. 1 looming. A legislative remedy will require hard work and compromise. Although it might sound oxymoronic, we need an active lame duck. The 66 million patients who rely on Medicare are counting on that.”