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    2026 MPFS Final Rule Increases Physician Payments

    January 21, 2026

    Physician Groups Express Concern Over Efficiency Adjustment and New ASM Model, and Push Towards a Value-Based Model On October 31, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released its finalized Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for calendar year 2026. This article discusses the provisions contained in the MPFS final rule, as well as stakeholder reactions. On October 31, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its finalized Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) for calendar year (CY) 2026, which “advances primary care management through improved quality measures, reduces waste and unnecessary use of skin substitutes, and introduces a…

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    OPPS Final Rule Issued by CMS

    March 13, 2024

    The Impact on Payment Rate Updates, Hospital Price Transparency, Rural Hospital Designation, Drug Pricing, and Intensive Outpatient Program On November 2, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its finalized Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) for calendar year (CY) 2024. The finalized payment update increases payments to outpatient facilities and finalizes changes to their hospital price transparency rule, among other provisions. An update to the September 2023 article on the proposed changes to the OPPS, this article discusses the various OPPS changes and updates included in the final rule. On November 2, 2023, the Centers for Medicare…

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    MPFS Final Rule Cuts Physician Payments

    February 14, 2024

    Praise and Patient Access Concerns Raised from the Cuts On November 2, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its finalized Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) for calendar year (CY) 2024. While the finalized fee schedule cuts payments to physicians, there are a number of other (more positive) provisions in the final rule. An update to the September 2023 article on the proposed changes to the MPFS, this article explores the various changes and updates included in the MPFS final rule. On November 2, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its finalized Medicare…

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    What Healthcare Provisions are Included in the Inflation Reduction Act?

    October 19, 2022

    Beyond Prescription Drug Costs On August 16, 2022, President Joseph Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) into law. The broad bill, which covers healthcare, taxes, and climate change, had been passed around Congress in assorted versions with varying support for months, but under the specter of a record 40-year-high inflation rate, congressional Democrats ultimately came together to pass the IRA; no Republicans voted for the bill. Although the IRA is anticipated to result in $485 billion in total spending, the law actually stands to lower the U.S. deficit by approximately $300 billion across the next 10 years.…

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    2021 Healthcare M&A in Review

    April 6, 2022

    Indications for 2022 After an understandable slowdown in 2020, due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the healthcare industry accelerated in 2021, and the industry is expected to continue the high number of deals and high deal volume in 2022. This article will review the U.S. healthcare industry’s M&A activity in 2021 and discuss what these trends may mean for 2022. After an understandable slowdown in 2020, due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,[1] merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the healthcare industry accelerated in 2021, and the industry is expected to…