On Friday, December 23, Congress reached an agreement that would extend the current Medicare payment rates for two months. Physicians were facing a 27 percent pay cut on January 1. A special committee will convene in January to work on a longer-term solution with the goal to extend the payment cut reprieve for two years.

AMA President Peter W. Carmel, MD, called on Congress to “enact a real and fiscally responsible solution to this sorry cycle of scheduled cuts and short-term patches that compromises access to care for patients and drives up costs for taxpayers. Members of Congress need to use this time to work in a bipartisan manner to provide long-term stability for seniors, military families and the physicians who care for them.”

We urge you to contact your congressman and request a permanent fix to the Medicare payment system. Click here to send your legislators a letter.