H.R. 8163: Provider Reimbursement Stability Act of 2026

H.R. 8163 would limit one major source of year-to-year Medicare physician pay volatility by capping budget-neutrality-driven conversion factor swings at 2.5% starting in 2027.

The bill also replaces Medicare's long-standing $20 million budget neutrality threshold with a yearly amount set by the Health and Human Services Secretary. Starting in 2032, and every fifth year after that, that amount would be increased based on five years of Medicare Economic Index growth for physicians' services.

Another change targets bad utilization estimates. If Medicare's projected use of certain services is off by more than 0.1% of total estimated spending for physician-fee-schedule services in a year, the agency would have to reconcile the difference later by adjusting the conversion factor up or down.

That means forecast errors would no longer just sit in the system if they cross the bill's trigger — Medicare would have to true them up in the second year after the miss.

The bill also tells Medicare to refresh direct practice-expense cost inputs at least once every five years, all at the same time. That includes clinical staff wages, medical supplies, equipment prices, and any other direct cost category the Secretary uses.

For patients, the bill does not change your Medicare benefits directly — it changes how stable physician payment updates are behind the scenes.