The House voted 243-183 late today to approve the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act (H.R. 3961), which would permanently reform Medicare's physician payment formula. Without congressional action, physicians face a 21% payment cut on Jan. 1 under the current Medicare physician fee schedule. Earlier this month, the Senate failed to advance a bill (S. 1776) halting the physician pay cut, with opponents arguing the bill would have added to the federal deficit.