Tuesday, July 15th 2025, 5:09 pm
The final version of President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill did not include a provision that medical professionals, including physical therapists, had been wanting for many years. The provision would have tied Medicare physician payment increases to inflation, as measured by the Medicare Economic Index (MEI). It aimed to increase Medicare physician payments to reflect the rising costs of running a medical practice and had been included in the House version of the OBBB; it was taken out in the Senate.
A half dozen physical therapy professionals from Oklahoma, along with hundreds of others from across the country, were on Capitol Hill Tuesday, lobbying for passage of the MEI pay provision in future legislation, as well as pushing for other legislative support.
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
"...for the last seven years, we have had—not only did we not have anything tied to inflation, we’ve had reductions; so we’ve had about a grand effect of about a 13% reduction in payment over the last seven years, as costs have gone up. So, it’s led to a lot of turnover in the physical therapy world and healthcare, in general. And so it’s creating gaps for a patient to be able to find help, and there’s longer wait times to get in, and so it’s really creating an issue with our patient safety."
"...it’s very difficult to get therapists out in the rural settings. Currently, I’m working in a clinic with just one physical therapist and myself, and with the volume that we see with just two therapists full-time, sometimes there’s a wait to give those patients quality care."
Alex Cameron is Griffin Media’s Washington Bureau Chief, reporting from our nation’s capital on issues that impact Oklahomans. An award-winning journalist, Alex first joined the News 9 team in 1995, and his reporting has taken him around the world, covering stories in Bosnia, Colorado, Washington, D.C., Seattle, New York and Ukraine.
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