# Plain Language Summary of H.R. 371

This is a bill that would pay a specific doctor named Robert Feiss about $39,710 to settle a dispute over money he should have received from the federal government. Feiss is a family practice physician in Ojai, California who participated in a Medicare program designed to encourage doctors to work in primary care. Between 2011 and 2013, he was supposed to receive bonus payments under this program, but due to a coding error in the government's system, he was never classified correctly and missed out on the money he was entitled to.

A federal court looked into Feiss's case in 2018 and agreed that he had been wrongly denied these payments through no fault of his own. The court found that he was indeed providing family practice services but had been miscategorized in the system, which cost him over $39,000 in incentive payments. This bill would authorize the Treasury Department to pay him that amount as compensation for the lost payments and to close out the case completely.

The bill also includes a rule that limits how much of this payment can go to lawyers or agents helping with the case—no more than 10 percent. This is a common protection in settlement bills to ensure most of the money goes to the person who was actually harmed rather than to intermediaries. Once this payment is made, Feiss would give up any right to pursue further claims against the government related to these missing payments from those three years.