Legislation Search

H.R. 9693: Patients First Act of 2026

This bill would change how Medicare pays doctors and other clinicians in several ways, with a focus on increasing payment levels, reshaping payment incentives, and changing quality-reporting rules.

Medicare payment updates

The bill would raise Medicare physician payment amounts and change how Medicare updates payments over time. It would also adjust geographic payment formulas so that inflation and local cost differences are reflected differently in some areas.

New primary care payment model

The bill would create a new hybrid monthly payment model for primary care from 2027 through 2031. This would combine a monthly payment structure with other payment elements, instead of relying entirely on the current fee-for-service approach.

Quality and performance program changes

The current MIPS program, which is Medicare’s system for measuring and adjusting clinician payment based on performance, would be renamed POINTS. The bill would also extend incentive payments under this program through 2032.

At the same time, the bill would change how performance adjustments work:

Practices excluded from certain reporting or participation rules would have their positive payment adjustments reduced by 50%.
Rules for feedback reports and payment adjustments would be revised.
Some registry standards would be tightened, including requirements related to data access.

Measure and reporting reforms

The bill would create a task force to reform the measures used to evaluate clinician performance. It would also revise rules around imaging appropriateness measures, which are used to assess whether medical imaging is ordered appropriately.

Alternative payment model changes

The bill would freeze certain payment thresholds used for alternative payment models for a period of time. This would affect when clinicians or groups qualify for some bonus payments or reporting requirements tied to those models.

Budget and fee schedule rules

The bill would also update how Medicare’s physician fee schedule handles budget neutrality and cost updates. In practical terms, this means the law would change how payment increases in one area are offset elsewhere, and how Medicare accounts for changing costs when setting physician payments.

Relevant Companies

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This is an AI-generated summary of the bill text. There may be mistakes.

Actions

2 actions

Date	Action
Jul. 15, 2026	Introduced in House
Jul. 15, 2026	Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

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