Highlight any text to annotate

# Summary of H.R. 9693, Patients First Act of 2026 This bill makes significant changes to how Medicare pays physicians and primary care providers. It modifies the physician payment conversion factor—the multiplier used to calculate doctor payments—by tying future updates to inflation measures while reducing them by one percentage point annually starting in 2027. Doctors participating in certain payment arrangements receive slightly higher updates than those in traditional fee-for-service arrangements. The bill creates a new hybrid payment model for primary care services from 2027 through 2031, offering qualifying primary care practices monthly payments based on the number of patients they serve rather than individual visits. This applies to family medicine, internal medicine, geriatrics, and pediatrics practices that are physician-led and derive at least 60 percent of their revenue from primary care. The bill also establishes a Quality Reform Task Force composed primarily of clinicians and their representatives to recommend quality and efficiency measures for physician performance evaluation, with requirements that the government implement or formally justify rejecting their recommendations. Additionally, the legislation adjusts payment penalties and bonuses under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (renamed the Patient Outcome Improvement National Tabulation System beginning in 2032), reduces compliance requirements for imaging service ordering in certain settings, and provides clinical data registries with expanded access to Medicare claims data for research and quality improvement. The bill includes protections for practices that remain independent and physician-controlled, while imposing penalties on practices owned or controlled by non-physician entities.

Add a comment

Sign in to comment on this bill.

Annotate the text

Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.