STAT+: Medicare’s advisory committee isn’t sold on big pay raises for doctors
On Thursday, MedPAC concluded that even though doctors’ pay hasn’t kept up with inflation over the last two decades, physicians shouldn’t get more than a minor raise for 2025.
On Thursday, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission reviewed Medicare performance data and concluded that despite doctors’ protests that their pay hasn’t kept up with inflation over the last 20 years, doctors shouldn’t get more than a minor raise for 2025.
On the other hand, the committee admitted hospitals could use a larger increase in payment rates.
The committee recommended, as it did in its March 2023 report on physician payment that Congress ignored, that physicians should get the small payment boost to account for the rising costs of running a practice. It also recommended hospitals should get a 1.5% boost on top of what is allowed by law, and that both sectors should get extra payments to support those serving in safety-net positions. Because a temporary congressional boost to doctor pay under Medicare will expire in 2025, in total, doctors would see an approximately 2% increase in average base rate payment, while hospitals would see around 5.6%.
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