Physicians got a brief reprieve from a 27 percent Medicare pay cut as the U.S. House of Representatives reached agreement with the Senate on a two-month extension of important policies that expire on Jan. 1.

AMA President Peter W. Carmel, MD, called on Congress to “enact a real and fiscally responsible solution to this sorry cycle of scheduled cuts and short-term patches that compromises access to care for patients and drives up costs for taxpayers. Members of Congress need to use this time to work in a bipartisan manner to provide long-term stability for seniors, military families and the physicians who care for them.”

Stay tuned for further updates and for ways to get involved to end this cycle of short-term Medicare patches.