Rep. Kim Schrier Co-Sponsors Bipartisan Patients First Act to Reform Medicare Physician Payments
Representative Kim Schrier, a Democrat from Washington, has co-sponsored the bipartisan Patients First Act of 2026 (H.R. 9693), a comprehensive piece of legislation aimed at reforming Medicare physician payment. The bill, introduced by Reps. John Joyce, MD (R-Pa.), Kim Schrier, MD (D-Wash.), and Greg Murphy, MD (R-N.C.), seeks to address the long-standing issue of declining Medicare physician payments, which have fallen approximately 33% since 2001 when adjusted for inflation. The Patients First Act proposes to replace the current Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) with a new quality measure program called POINTS (Patient Outcome Improvement National Tabulation System) over a four-year transition period. This new system would reduce reporting burdens for physicians and cap payment penalties at a maximum of 5% after a transition period, significantly lower than the current negative 9% under MIPS. The legislation also includes provisions for automatic, annual inflation-based payment updates and mode...
