Sponsors (12)
The bill clarifies and narrows Medicare coverage to physician-rendered services, which can simplify administration and payment rules but risks reducing coverage by non-physician clinicians, harming access and increasing costs for beneficiaries while creating financial and billing impacts for providers.
Medicare beneficiaries and hospitals/health systems: the bill narrows the statutory definition to physician-rendered services, which simplifies billing for physician services and gives CMS clearer statutory authority to administer physician payment rules.
Medicare beneficiaries and non-physician clinicians (NPs, PAs, other allied providers): the bill may remove or reduce Medicare payment/coverage for services furnished by non-physician practitioners, decreasing access to care for beneficiaries who rely on these clinicians.
Medicare beneficiaries: the bill may force some patients to see physicians instead of lower-cost clinicians or face denials, likely increasing out-of-pocket costs for those beneficiaries.
Hospitals and health systems: the bill could reduce recognition of certain services under this Medicare provision, creating billing complexity and potential revenue loss for provider organizations.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Narrows a Medicare statutory sentence so it applies only to "physicians’ services furnished by physicians," removing broader enumerated language.
Official title: Amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to add physical therapists to the list of providers allowed to utilize locum tenens arrangements under Medicare.
Introduced July 9, 2025 by Ben Ray Luján · Last progress July 9, 2025
Makes a narrow change to a Medicare payment rule by rewriting a sentence in the Medicare statute to refer only to "physicians’ services furnished by physicians." The change removes broader enumerated language and limits that part of the statute to physician-delivered services, and it applies to items and services furnished after enactment. The effect is targeted: it clarifies who qualifies to furnish and bill for the specified physician services under the cited Medicare provision, which could change billing or coverage treatment for services previously described by the removed clause.