Why are doctors' fees rising slower than inflation?

The short answer

• Physician visit price growth of 2.1 percent over the past year and 7.9 percent over five years remained well below overall inflation because Medicare fee schedules and multi-year commercial insurance contracts strictly restrain reimbursement updates. [1] [2] [3]
• Mild upward momentum has been maintained primarily by steady wage increases for medical assistants, nurses, and administrative practice staff. [4]

What's driving the price

Political, regulatory and trade factors

• Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Restraints (Oct 2024 to Sep 2026), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services implemented a 2.83 percent cut to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule conversion factor for 2025, and while Congress enacted a temporary 2.5 percent increase for 2026 under July 2025 legislation, annual updates remained below practice cost inflation and anchored commercial reimbursement benchmarks. [pushed prices down] [3] [5]
• Transaction-Price Measurement Methodology (Oct 2021 to Sep 2026), Bureau of Labor Statistics: The Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates the index using total allowed charges—the combination of patient copayments and actual negotiated insurer payments—which strips out provider chargemaster increases and captures strictly capped transaction rates. [pushed prices down] [10] [11] [12]

Macro factors: supply, weather, disease, energy

• Clinical Support Staff Wage Growth (Jan 2025 to Sep 2026): Ongoing operational cost increases, led by non-physician labor where 64 percent of medical groups budgeted 1 to 3 percent wage increases and 23 percent budgeted 4 to 6 percent increases in a September 2025 Medical Group Management Association survey, exerted steady upward pressure on visit costs. [pushed prices up] [4]

Retail, brand and seasonal factors

• Multi-Year Commercial Insurer Contract Cycles (Oct 2021 to Sep 2026): Commercial health insurance plans typically negotiate physician fee schedules on multi-year cycles lasting two to three years, creating a prolonged pricing lag that shields doctor visit reimbursements from rapid broader economic inflation. [pushed prices down] [2] [6] [7]
• Insurer Bargaining Power (Oct 2023 to Sep 2026): High regional consolidation among dominant commercial health insurance carriers restricted the negotiating leverage of physician practices, limiting their ability to pass broader inflationary increases onto insurers. [pushed prices down] [8] [9]

Supply chain right now

• Clinical and administrative staffing (moderate): Practices face ongoing wage competition for medical assistants and scheduling staff, prompting moderate payroll adjustments to retain support personnel. [4]
• Practice operations and facilities (stable): Office leases, electronic health record maintenance, and medical supply expenses remain contained under existing long-term facility contracts. [6]
• Payer contracting and fee schedule determination (stable): Multi-year commercial payer contracts and federal Medicare conversion factors strictly cap allowable charges, preventing large swings in doctor visit prices. [2] [3] [5]

Researched 2026-10-18 with Google Search. Every point links to its sources; unsourced claims were removed.

Doctor visits prices, last 12 months

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (CPI-U), series CUUR0000SEMC01.

Sources

1. Medicare physician pay has plummeted since 2001. Find out why. (ama-assn.org)
2. lincolninternational.com (lincolninternational.com)
3. Medicare Physician Payment Reform - ASE (asecho.org)
4. Budgeting competitive, sustainable 2026 staff pay for your medical practice (mgma.com)
5. What to Know About How Medicare Pays Physicians | KFF (kff.org)
6. Managing medical costs and insurance premiums (thestar.com.my)
7. templelawreview.org (templelawreview.org)
8. What’s driving healthcare prices? Not doctors | Medical Economics (medicaleconomics.com)
9. bettermedicarealliance.org (bettermedicarealliance.org)
10. Measuring Price Change in the CPI: Medical care : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov)
11. Use of medical claims data in the CPI for physicians’ and hospital services : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov)
12. Improving response rates and representativity in the CPI medical care index : Monthly Labor Review : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov)

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