U.S. House health panel examines Medicare physician payment reforms

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Medicare payment reform hearing

Highlights

House Subcommittee on Health hearing led by Chairman Morgan Griffith examines Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, MACRA, and urgent payment reform needs for provider stability.
Witnesses report that reimbursement pressure drives physicians into hospital employment, accelerating care delivery consolidation and threatening independent and community-based practices.
Lawmakers raise concerns that continued instability and payment cuts in Medicare may reduce personalized care and limit access for seniors and rural patients.

Hearing focuses on payment pressure and reform options

As reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the House Subcommittee on Health holds a hearing on the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, MACRA and potential payment reforms, led by Chairman Morgan Griffith. Griffith says the discussion builds on the panel’s affordability work and centers on how provider payment challenges can affect health care affordability, competition and access to timely care.

Griffith says physicians, nurses and other providers remain essential to the health care system and that maintaining a stable and sustainable physician payment system is important for both providers and patients. The hearing highlights concerns that prolonged instability in Medicare reimbursement can weaken the ability of medical practices to operate effectively in local communities.

During the hearing, Congressman Gus Bilirakis asks how the current Medicare reimbursement structure affects independent practices’ ability to staff offices, invest in technology and continue delivering quality services. Dr. Snyder says the environment is making it very challenging to maintain offices and staff, adding that workers are moving to hospital-employed models that can offer more because of reimbursement differences.

Industry implications for independent and rural care

Bilirakis also asks what unresolved reimbursement challenges would mean for patient choice, access to community-based care and overall health care costs. Dr. Snyder says physicians are increasingly shifting into hospital employment and that patients often follow them, underscoring concerns about further consolidation in care delivery.

Congressman John Joyce asks whether hospital systems’ acquisition of independent primary care practices in Virginia leads to less personalized care and reduced access for seniors in Medicare. Dr. Fox says it does, reinforcing lawmakers’ argument that vertical integration may reduce community-level access.

Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks says payment reform is the most critical issue for physician stability and the long-term viability of the health care workforce, especially in rural health care. She says the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule was intended to create stability and predictability, but physicians instead face recurring payment cuts, rising administrative burdens and increasing costs of care, trends she says threaten patients’ access to trusted local services.

Our earlier article on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act covered the U.S. House’s overwhelming bipartisan vote to advance a housing package aimed at easing affordability pressures by expanding supply. We noted that the House version reshaped the Senate bill by restoring community banking provisions and pairing housing-development streamlining with regulatory changes intended to lower nationwide home prices.

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