Sponsors (10)
The bill provides near-term protection and more stakeholder input for clinicians and patients by delaying and restricting payment adjustments, but does so at the cost of higher Medicare spending and the risk of future sudden cuts or implementation delays that could shift financial burdens to taxpayers and providers.
Medicare beneficiaries will experience slower reductions in physician payment rates in the short term because the bill delays the efficiency cut until at least 2030.
Physicians and clinician practices will have more time and a formal opportunity to prepare because the bill requires consultation with affected specialty representatives before any post-2030 implementation.
Healthcare providers and hospitals are protected from repeated or immediate cuts to services recently reviewed because the bill bars adjustments for services revalued in the prior 10 years and prohibits multiple adjustments to the same service.
Taxpayers and the Medicare program could face higher costs because delaying the efficiency adjustment is likely to increase Medicare spending or slow reductions in provider payments.
Physicians and hospitals risk sudden, disruptive payment cuts if the post-2030 methodology reduces work RVUs for some specialties when implemented, despite the required consultations.
Taxpayers could incur higher near-term federal spending because the bill raises the qualifying and nonqualifying APM update percentages for 2026 and changes related future-year rules, increasing payments relative to baseline.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Delays a Medicare physician work RVU efficiency adjustment until Jan 1, 2030, requires a two-year report and consultation, restricts methods, and adjusts 2026 conversion-factor percentages.
Delays HHS/CMS from putting into effect a Medicare physician fee-schedule work RVU efficiency adjustment and related physician time updates adopted in the November 5, 2025 final rule until January 1, 2030. Requires a two-year report to congressional committees about whether a one-time, across-the-board work RVU adjustment is needed for services not revalued or reviewed in the prior 10 years, and sets conditions for any post-2030 implementation. Also adjusts the numeric percentage used for the 2026 conversion-factor update (raising the two numeric components for that year) and restores the older percentage split for qualifying vs. nonqualifying APM updates beginning in 2027. The bill preserves CMS authority to revalue misvalued or new/revised codes and limits the number and method of any efficiency adjustment in the future.
Introduced February 12, 2026 by Ron Estes · Last progress February 12, 2026