CMS Releases Hospital Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Rule
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a final rule that updates the hospital outpatient and ambulatory surgical center prospective payment systems for calendar year 2026. Among other changes, this final rule increases payment rates under both payment systems by 2.6%; seeks to improve price transparency by requiring hospitals to post actual, consumer-usable prices – not estimates – in standardized formats; expands site-neutral payments by aligning payment rates for certain outpatient services provided at hospital outpatient departments and off-campus facilities; finalizes CMS’s proposal to phase out the inpatient-only list, starting with the removal of 285 procedures; and revises the hospital outpatient, rural emergency, and ambulatory surgical center quality reporting programs. More information can be found here.
CMS Also Released Home Health and End-Stage Renal Disease Final Rules
CMS also released two final rules that respectively update calendar year 2026 Medicare payment policies and rates under the home health and end-stage renal disease prospective payment systems. These final rules also update the quality reporting/incentive programs for each respective type of facility.
CMS Publishes Its Quarterly Listing of Program Issuances
CMS published its quarterly listing of program issuances. This quarterly notice lists substantive and interpretive regulations, guidelines of general applicability, statements of policy, manual instructions, and other Federal Register notices published by CMS between July and September 2025 for the various programs that it administers, including Medicare and Medicaid.
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