There could be a five-year fix in the works for the Medicare physician pay schedule, one congressman recently suggested.

Speaking at a recent meeting of the American Hospital Association, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said the House might introduce a bill that would extend the physician pay fix for up to five years. The legislation would not require offsets under congressional pay-as-you-go rules, CQ Healthbeat reported. Van Hollen said he would block any cuts to physician pay resulting from a recently proposed Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services inpatient payment rule, but did not offer many detail on a proposed legislative fix for physician pay, according to CQ Healthbeat.

The current Medicare physician pay extensions will expire at the end of May.  The physician fee schedule also affects the calculation of Medicare Part B therapy rates for skilled nursing facilities.