Congress Introduces Patients First Act to Reform Medicare Physician Payment System
Representatives John Joyce, MD (R-PA), Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC), and Kim Schrier, MD (D-WA) have introduced the Patients First Act, a bill designed to overhaul the Medicare physician payment system. The legislation proposes several key changes, including providing a predictable annual payment update tied to medical inflation, raising the budget-neutrality threshold, and revamping the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) measure review process. Additionally, the bill mandates that federal claims data be made available to clinician-led clinical data registries. These reforms aim to address the long-standing issue of declining Medicare physician reimbursement, which has fallen by approximately 33% over the past 25 years when adjusted for inflation. 
