Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act
Official title: To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for an update to a single conversion factor under the Medicare physician fee schedule that is based on the Medicare economic index.
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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.
Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act
This bill modifies certain adjustments to payment amounts under the Medicare physician fee schedule.
Payment amounts under the Medicare physician fee schedule are based on a service's relative value, a conversion factor, and a geographic adjustment factor. Current law provides for separate conversion factors for physicians that are qualifying participants in advanced alternative payment models (also known as qualifying APM participants) and for other physicians beginning in 2026, with an annual update of 0.75% and 0.25%, respectively.
The bill replaces the separate conversion factors for qualifying APM participants and other physicians with a single conversion factor and provides for an update that is equal to the annual percentage increase in the Medicare Economic Index, beginning in 2026. (The Medicare Economic Index is a specialized index that is generally used to determine allowed charges for physician services based on annual price changes.)
- Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
- CONGRESS OF NEUROLOGICAL SURGEONS
- AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NEUROLOGICAL SURGEONS
- VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- CALIFORNIA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION INC.
- AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR RADIATION ONCOLOGY
- AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DERMATOLOGY ASSOCIATION
Bodies those filers lobbied
- HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
- SENATE
- Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
- Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS)
- Natl Institutes of Health (NIH)
- Office of Management & Budget (OMB)
- Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC)
- Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 6160: Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-6160/
"H.R. 6160: Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-6160/.
H.R. 6160, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-6160/.
[H.R. 6160: Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-6160/)