A new bill working its way through the Massachusetts Legislature seeks to change the way primary care physicians are paid in order to attract more physicians to the primary care specialty. The legislation is in response to recent reports of primary care physicians reaching retirement age or leaving the industry due to burnout. Rather than continue with the fee-for-service model where physicians are paid after every visit, test or procedure they perform, the bill proposes to shift payment upfront and base payment partially on historical reimbursement revenue per patient over the past two years and on the average statewide per-patient monthly revenue amount. The Boston Globe reports that patients could benefit as they would not have copays or deductibles, and physicians could provide care as they see fit without worrying about billing for individual services. The authors and sponsors of the legislation believe that it can serve as a national model.