USofCare Responds to CMS’s 2026 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System Final Rule

Washington, DC — The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued the 2026 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System Final Rule. In our response to the proposed rule earlier this year, United States of Care (USofCare) urged CMS to finalize key policies that will promote fairness and transparency in how certain health care services are paid for – including aligning payment rates for drug administration services performed in outpatient health facilities with lower-cost settings, establishing a standard payment rate for skin substitute products and paying for them as supplies, and establishing new hospital price transparency data requirements. At the same time, USofCare urged CMS to reconsider removing measures that prioritize the collection of data that can help reduce health disparities. 

“We applaud CMS for finalizing several key provisions in the 2026 Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System Final Rule that will help improve transparency and lower costs for people – especially when seeking care at outpatient health facilities owned by hospitals. These provisions represent an important step in making health care more affordable for people,” said United States of Care Senior Director of Federal Policy & Advocacy Lisa Hunter. “This finalized rule includes policies that will help us achieve what we know that people want – a health care system they can afford, understand, and navigate without confusion.”

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