- The Honorable John Joyce, MD
U.S. House of Representatives
2102 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515 - The Honorable Greg Murphy, MD
U.S. House of Representatives
407 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515 - The Honorable Kim Schrier, MD
U.S. House of Representatives
1110 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representatives Joyce, Murphy, and Schrier,
On behalf of the twenty undersigned organizations, thank you for your work on addressing long-standing issues in the Medicare physician payment system. We appreciate the time, attention, and stakeholder engagement you have invested in finding unifying solutions to the challenges our members face.
We are grateful to Congress for providing a 2.5% positive patch to the conversion factor cut in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2026, however this one-time adjustment expires at the end of the calendar year. For non-primary care doctors, this patch was undercut by the 2.5%
reduction to the work Relative Value Units (RVUs) CMS implemented with a new across-the-board “efficiency adjustment” on January 1, 2026. This reduction lacks data and is based on a flawed assumption of uniformly gained efficiencies.
While there are sections of your draft legislation we support (lifting the budget neutrality threshold, implementing an inflationary update, and reducing administrative burdens in the MIPS program), there are two key policies missing that are highly important to our memberships.
We urge you to include in your legislative package, language that would stop the 2.5% conversion factor cut that is scheduled for January 1, 2027, and address the “efficiency adjustment” cuts expected to continue on an indefinite three-year cycle.
Thank you for your continued support and open communication with the physician community and we look forward to continuing our dialogue to create meaningful changes to the Medicare physician payment system.
Sincerely,
American College of Surgeons
American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
American Academy of Ophthalmology
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
American College of Cardiology
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
American Gastroenterological Association
American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery
American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons
American Society of Echocardiography
American Society of Plastic Surgeons
American Society of Retina Specialists
College of American Pathologists
Congress of Neurological Surgeons
Society for Vascular Surgery
Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES)
The American Society of Breast Surgeons
The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions
