By AMA and ISMA staff

The U.S. Congress has partly, but not entirely, rolled back a pay cut that will threaten Medicare patients’ access to high-quality physician care.

In a federal budget deal to continue operating the government, the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate voted last week to restore about half of the 3.37% across-the-board physician pay cut that took effect in January. As of March 9, reimbursement rates have been increased from earlier this year, but remain about 1.7% below last year’s levels. 

“While we appreciate the challenges Congress confronted when drafting the current 2024 appropriations package, we are extremely disappointed that about half of the 2024 Medicare physician payment cuts will be allowed to continue,” AMA President Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, said. “There were many opportunities and widespread support to block the 3.37% Medicare cuts for physician services that took place Jan. 1, but in the end Congress opted to reverse only 1.68 of the 3.37 percentage payment reduction required by the Medicare Fee Schedule. The need to stop the annual cycle of pay cuts and patches and enact permanent Medicare payment reforms could not be more clear.” 

The ISMA, along with other state medical associations and national medical specialty societies, signed on to an AMA letter to U.S. House and Senate leadership in January opposing the cuts. Physicians and patients can visit the AMA’s Fix Medicare Now website to write their congressional representatives to support physician payment reform.