MedPAC Recommends Small Boost to Physician Pay, Though Some Say It’s a Pay Cut

MedPage Today January 16, 2026
Shannon Firth

‘We are not seeing the forest from the trees with this year’s update,’ one commissioner said

Members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) voted 15-2 to boost payment for physicians and other health professionals by 0.5 percentage points above current law for 2027.

Given existing statutory updates of 0.75% for clinicians in advanced alternative payment models and 0.25% for all other clinicians under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, this latest recommendation would amount to an update of 1.25% and 0.75%, respectively, for 2027.

But Commissioner Brian Miller, MD, MBA, MPH, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, one of two members opposed to the recommendation, argued that it actually represents a “net negative payment update” for Medicare Part...

Today's Sponsors

Today's Sponsor