Medicare physician reimbursement is one of those topics that can sound highly technical—until your doctor stops accepting new Medicare patients because reimbursement no longer covers the cost of providing care.
Medicare’s proposed 2027 rule would reduce physician payment rates and, after 2029, move clinicians away from traditional reporting mechanisms. The agency frames this as a shift from “sick care” to healthcare, but practices must survive the math (reimbursement - cost to provide care = a negative number).
Decreasing payments to doctors while inflation continues to rise (and subsequently, the cost of running a medical practice) doesn’t make sense. Today, we must ask whether Medicare can modernize physician payments without inherently making access to care for patients worse.