A billing code was supposed to incentivize relationship-based primary care for Medicare patients. It may not be working as hoped

By Ishani GanguliAug. 28, 2026

Ganguli is an associate professor of medicine, health services researcher, and internal medicine primary care physician at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Beatrice (not her real name) is here to see me after her fall, but our visit doesn’t end there. I watch the security footage of the fall on her phone, check her head to toe, and plan a pain regimen that won’t worsen her gastritis. And then I tackle her renewed anxiety, adjust her thyroid medication, offer an overdue vaccine, and plan for our nurse to check in later that week.

This is what it’s always meant to be a primary care doctor. And as of two years ago, Medicare enrollees can find it as a line item on their doctor’s bill.

The G2211 code lets doctors bill an additional $16 per visit for providing comprehensive or ongoing, relationship-based care. As a health services researcher and physician who has both studied and billed G2211, I’m intrigued by this code because it renders transactional a concept that is sort of the opposite. Medicare introduced the code in 2024 as a well-meaning effort to invest in primary care as the foundation of our health care system, and just announced that it is sticking with it. But our research points to early signs that it may not work as hoped.