There’s a health care crisis no one’s talking about — and it’s costing you money | Opinion (The Tennessean)

Dr. Michael Dragutsky, a Memphis gastroenterologist and founder of Gastro One, warns that falling Medicare physician payments—down over 30% after inflation in two decades—are pushing small practices toward consolidation or closure, especially in rural Tennessee. Rising costs for staff, equipment, and operations are colliding with stagnant reimbursements, leaving independent groups struggling to survive. When practices fold into hospital systems, patients pay more for the same procedures, while Medicare spending also rises. Dragutsky highlights the bipartisan Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act, which would reverse 2025 cuts and tie future payments to the Medicare Economic Index, ensuring fair adjustments that could help doctors remain independent, sustain local jobs, and preserve affordable community-based care.