On January 1, 2025, a 2.8% Medicare physician payment cut took effect, marking the fifth consecutive year that physician payments have been cut. When medical practice inflation is factored in, this is in effect a 6.3% payment cut to physicians.

At a time when physicians are already struggling to keep their doors open and millions of Americans are unable to get timely access to care, these devastating cuts will further push physicians to retire early, reduce the number of Medicare patients they see or shut their doors entirely – all of which hurts patients. 

A bipartisan bill has been introduced in Congress – HR 879 “The Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act” – that will prospectively stop the latest round of Medicare payment cuts in full and also provide a partial inflation increase. Specifically, the legislation stops the 2.8% payment cut from January 1 - December 31, 2025, and provides a partial inflation update of 2%, which is a little more than half of the 3.5% estimated medical practice inflation increase for 2025.

Medicare payments to physicians have not reflected economic realities and rising costs of health care. Over the past two decades, Medicare payment rates have fallen by 33%, when adjusted for the cost 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.

Congress has begun work on a March legislative package to keep the government funded past the March 14 deadline.  The California Medical Association (CMA) and the American Medical Association Federation of Medical Associations are strongly urging Congress to adopt the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act as part of the package.

Take Action Today!

Physicians are urged to contact their representatives today and ask them to cosponsor the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act. A sample letter is provided, but we encourage you to add your stories about how the ongoing cuts have affected the sustainability of your practice and/or your patients’ access to care. Examples include:

• Having to limit or close your practice to Medicare patients (for example, not accepting new Medicare patients)
• Patients waiting a long time for appointments or specialist referrals
• Patients experiencing longer travel times to see specialists
• Patients having difficulty finding primary care physicians

CMA has also created a waiting room flyer—"Will YOUR Doctor be There?”— that physicians can use to encourage patients to join them in asking Congress to protect patient access and stop the Medicare physician payment cuts that went into effect on January 1, 2025.