The recently introduced Patients First Act, H.R. 9693, would help protect patients' access to care by creating a more stable Medicare payment system for physicians. Led by Reps. Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC), John Joyce, MD (R-PA), and Kim Schrier, MD (D-WA), this bipartisan bill would increase Medicare patients' access to the care they need.
Year after year, Medicare payment cuts have put increasing pressure on physician practices, especially small, rural, and independent practices. Despite rising practice costs,
Medicare physician payment has fallen by approximately 33 percent since 2001 when adjusted for inflation in practice costs. These stresses limit the number of Medicare patients physicians can serve and reduce the quality of care.
These cuts combined with patchwork solutions have created instability for physicians and limited patients' access to high-quality care.
H.R. 9693 would remedy these shortcomings for patients by:
- Supporting more stable physician payment so practices can continue caring for Medicare patients
- Helping protect access to care in small, rural, and independent physician practices
- Reducing unnecessary administrative burdens so physicians can spend more time with patients
- Encouraging improvements in quality measurement and care delivery
- Strengthening opportunities for physicians to participate in new value-based care models that support better patient outcomes
Contact your member of Congress today and urge them to cosponsor H.R. 9693, so your physician can put you first. Physicians need a stable Medicare payment system to keep putting patients first.
I am writing as a patient to urge you to cosponsor the Patients First Act (H.R. 9693).
Patients need access to physicians they know and trust in their communities. But year after year, Medicare physician payment cuts have put increasing pressure on physician practices, especially small, rural, and independent practices. As the cost of running a practice continues to rise, many physicians face growing financial strain that can make it harder to keep serving Medicare patients.
According to the American Medical Association, Medicare physician payment has fallen by approximately 33 percent since 2001, when adjusted for inflation in practice costs. These repeated cuts, combined with temporary patchwork fixes, have created ongoing instability for physician practices and threaten patients' access to timely, high-quality care.
The bipartisan Patients First Act, led by Reps. Greg Murphy, MD, John Joyce, MD, and Kim Schrier, MD, would help address these problems by creating a more stable Medicare physician payment system. This legislation would help protect patient access to care by supporting physician practices, especially those serving communities where access may already be limited.
For patients, this legislation matters because it would:
* support more stable physician payment so practices can continue caring for Medicare patients
* help protect access to care in small, rural, and independent practices
* reduce burdensome reporting requirements so physicians can spend more time with patients
* encourage more meaningful and clinically relevant approaches to measuring quality
* create more opportunities for physicians to participate in value-based care models
I am asking you to please cosponsor H.R. 9693, the Patients First Act. Supporting physician practices helps protect patients' access to care.
Thank you for your consideration and for your service.
[First Name] [Last Name]
[Street], [City], [Zip]
