H.R. 9693

In plain English

Patients First Act of 2026 This bill modifies payments and incentive programs under the Medicare physician fee schedule. The bill establishes a temporary program to provide hybrid payments for certain primary care services. Under the program, payments for services relating to care management, behavioral health integration, office-based evaluation and management (including telehealth), and communications (e.g., phone calls) are made on a monthly basis to providers for each individual that is attributed to the provider's practice. The monthly amount is based on the national average amount for such services. Providers may opt into the model; in order to qualify, providers must be owned or controlled by health care practitioners and must have had the majority of their prior year's payments consist of payments for the covered services. The bill also renames the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and modifies the program to include performance measures relating to care efficiency (e.g., reducing avoidable hospitalizations). (MIPS is an incentive program under Medicare that allows health professionals to receive payment adjustments based on certain performance measures.) The bill

Congressional Research Service summary from Congress.gov (not yet simplified).

Sponsor and status

Loading from Congress.gov…

How South Carolina voted

No recorded roll-call vote on this bill yet. Most bills never get one.

Who lobbied

Lobbying reports name the bills a client worked on. They don't say which side anyone took.

No lobbying reported on this bill in the reports we have loaded (January 2025 through September 2026). Lobbyists report each quarter, about 20 days after it ends, so any lobbying since October 2026 will be added once those reports are filed.