Medicare Payment Reform Takes Center Stage in House Hearing
On September 15, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a legislative hearing on several health care proposals, including two bills addressing the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). The Patients First Act of 2026 (H.R. 9693) would make broad changes to the MPFS, while the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act (H.R. 8163) would reform Medicare’s budget neutrality policies.
Introduced earlier this summer by Representatives John Joyce, MD (R-PA), Greg Murphy, MD, FACS (R-NC), and Kim Schrier, MD (D-WA), the Patients First Act proposes several changes to the MPFS and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). The hearing also considered the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act, led by Representative Murphy, which the ACS strongly supports and would reform Medicare’s budget neutrality policies to help reduce future across-the-board payment reductions.
The hearing provided an opportunity for Congress to discuss much-needed reforms to the Medicare physician payment system, but significant work remains to ensure those reforms address the challenges facing surgeons and surgical patients.
The Patients First Act includes several longstanding ACS priorities, including an annual inflationary payment update and changes to the budget neutrality threshold. However, the legislation does not adequately address several immediate threats to surgical reimbursement, including CMS’s “efficiency” adjustment to work relative value units (RVUs) and looming Medicare physician payment reductions.
ACS advocacy, together with our surgical coalition partners, helped secure improvements to the Patients First Act before its introduction, and we continue to engage with lawmakers as the legislation is considered by Congress. With limited legislative time remaining this year, the path forward for the bill remains uncertain. The ACS will continue working with congressional leaders and the committees of jurisdiction to strengthen any Medicare payment legislation that advances and ensure it better addresses the needs of surgeons and surgical patients.
The ACS continues to advocate for any healthcare package moving through Congress to address both the harmful “efficiency adjustment” and the expiration of the 2.5% conversion factor relief, while also advancing broader reforms needed to bring greater stability to the Medicare physician payment system.
Visit SurgeonsVoice today to urge your members of Congress to support the Efficiency Adjustment Delay Act (H.R. 7520) and stop harmful cuts to work RVUs, as well as the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act (H.R. 8163) to reform Medicare’s budget neutrality policies.
For more information on the ACS’s invaluable role in addressing these issues, read the September Bulletin feature: “ACS Advocacy Builds Momentum for Medicare Payment Reform.”
Bipartisan Bill Would Limit Surgeon Non-Competes
Representatives Scott Peters (D-CA) and Thomas Kean Jr. (R-NJ) recently reintroduced the Workforce Mobility Act (H.R. 10215), bipartisan legislation that would generally prohibit the use of non-compete agreements. The House bill is the companion to the Workforce Mobility Act (S. 2031), introduced in the Senate by Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT), Todd Young (R-IN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Tim Kaine (D-VA).
The ACS supports this legislation, which would prohibit non-compete agreements except in limited circumstances and help ensure that surgeons have greater flexibility to practice where they choose.
Non-compete agreements are common in employment contracts, including in healthcare. Many employed surgeons are subject to restrictive covenants that limit where they can practice following voluntary separation or involuntary dismissal from employment, with or without cause. These agreements typically prevent physicians from practicing for a specified period of time within a defined geographic area or radius of their former employer. Research has also found that non-compete agreements can discourage employee mobility even when the agreements may be illegal or unenforceable.
For surgeons, these restrictions can have significant professional and patient-access implications. A surgeon seeking to change employers may be forced to relocate, interrupt established relationships with patients or forgo a new professional opportunity to comply with a non-compete agreement.
By generally prohibiting these agreements, the Workforce Mobility Act would give surgeons greater freedom to change employers, establish an independent practice, or pursue opportunities in underserved communities without unnecessary restrictions on where they can practice.
Senate Reviews HHS Deputy Secretary Nomination
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and Senate Finance Committee held separate hearings to consider the nomination of Gerard "Chris" Klomp to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
As the department’s second highest-ranking official, the Deputy Secretary plays a key role in overseeing HHS operations and advancing policies affecting Medicare, Medicaid, public health, biomedical research, and other federal health programs.
Klomp has served as Chief Counselor to the HHS Secretary since February 2026. He previously served as Director of the Center for Medicare and Deputy Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) beginning in 2025, where his responsibilities included oversight of Medicare policy and operations.
Read Klomp’s full statement to the Senate Finance Committee here. The ACS will continue to monitor his nomination as it moves through the committee process and toward consideration by the full Senate.
