Data / Federal rules / 2026-13656
Medicare Program: Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems; and Quality Reporting Programs; Including the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program and Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Program; Request for Information on Strengthening the Standardization and Comparability of Hospital Price Transparency (HPT) Data; Prior Authorization; Accrediting Organization (AO) Deeming for Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA); and Notices of Closure of Teaching Hospitals and Opportunities To Apply for Available Slots
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published this proposed rule in the Federal Register on July 7, 2026. Comments closed on August 31, 2026.
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What the agency says
This proposed rule would revise the Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and the Medicare Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) payment system for calendar year 2027 based on our continuing experience with these systems. We also describe the changes to the amounts and factors used to determine the payment rates for Medicare services paid under the OPPS and those paid under the ASC payment systems. In addition, this proposed rule would update and refine the requirements for the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program and the Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting Program. There are no changes to the Rural Emergency Hospital Quality Reporting Program. We propose to expand the prior authorization requirement to include additional Botulinum Toxin Injection services. We also propose to implement certain provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, for off-campus outpatient departments of a provider. In addition, this proposed rule announces notices of closure of teaching hospitals and opportunities to apply for available slots. This rule also requests information regarding potential approaches to improve comparability and standardization, particularly for complex contracting methodologies, of the HPT information reported in machine- readable files and consumer-friendly displays. We propose hospital AOs with deeming authority to assess compliance with certain Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) administrative requirements during accreditation and reaccreditation surveys. Finally, we are soliciting comments on a potential separate payment under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) for domestic procurement of personal protective equipment and essential medicines.
Key facts
- Document number
- 2026-13656
- Type
- Proposed rule
- Action
- Proposed rule
- Agency
- Health and Human Services Department; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Published
- July 7, 2026
- Comments due
- August 31, 2026
- Dates
- To be assured consideration, comments must be received at one of the addresses provided below, by August 31, 2026.
- Docket
- CMS-1850-P
- Regulation ID (RIN)
- 0938-AV83
- Code of Federal Regulations
- 42 CFR 413; 42 CFR 416; 42 CFR 419; 42 CFR 427; 42 CFR 488
- Topics
- Administrative practice and procedure; Biologics; Diseases; Health facilities; Health professions; Hospitals; Medicare; Prescription drugs; Puerto Rico; Reporting and recordkeeping requirements
- Pages
- 299
Other documents from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Everything from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services · Rules on administrative practice and procedure · Rules on biologics · Rules on diseases · Published in July 2026
Read from the Federal Register API, last updated 2026-10-23. The document on federalregister.gov is the official record; dates and dockets can change through later corrections. Free to reuse with credit to SpecStream under CC BY 4.0.