MedPAC’s January 2026 public meeting will be available via live webcast.
There are three separate sessions as indicated below. Given the limited number of registrants for each session, we request that you only sign up for the sessions you are able to attend.
Register for the Thursday, January 15 morning session (10:15AM to 1:00PM) by clicking here
Topics covered: Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: Physician and other health professional services; Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: Hospital inpatient and outpatient services; Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: Skilled nursing facility services; home health agency services; inpatient rehabilitation facility services; outpatient dialysis services; and hospice services; Mandated report: The impact of recent changes to the home health prospective payment system
Register for the Thursday, January 15 afternoon session (2:10PM to 6:00PM) by clicking here
Topics covered: Analyzing recent increases in Part D bids; Medicare Part D: Status report; Ambulatory surgical centers: Status report
Register for the Friday, January 16 morning session (9:00AM to 12:00PM) by clicking here
Topics covered: The Medicare Advantage program: Status report; Mandated report: Dual-eligible special-needs plans
Agenda
01/15/2026 . 10:15 am - 10:40 am
Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: Physician and other health professional services
Staff Contacts:
ISSUE: By law, each year the Commission reviews Medicare’s fee-for-service payment policies and makes payment update recommendations. For our March 2026 report to the Congress, we consider whether payments to physicians and other health professionals are adequate and how they should be updated in 2027.
KEY POINTS: Last month, commissioners examined information on beneficiaries’ access to clinician care, quality of care, and the relationship between Medicare’s payments and clinicians’ costs, and discussed the Chair’s draft update recommendation.
ACTION: Commissioners will review the findings and vote on the draft update recommendation.
01/15/2026 . 10:45 am - 11:10 am
Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: Hospital inpatient and outpatient services
Staff Contacts:
ISSUE: By law, each year the Commission reviews Medicare’s fee-for-service payment policies and makes payment update recommendations. For our March 2026 report to the Congress, we consider whether Medicare inpatient and outpatient payments to general acute care hospitals are adequate and how they should be updated in 2027.
KEY POINTS: Last month, commissioners examined information on beneficiaries’ access to hospital care, quality of care, hospitals’ access to capital, and the relationship between Medicare’s payments and hospitals’ costs, and discussed the Chair’s draft update recommendation.
ACTION: Commissioners will review the findings and vote on the draft update recommendation.
01/15/2026 . 11:15 am - 11:55 am
Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: Skilled nursing facility services; home health agency services; inpatient rehabilitation facility services; outpatient dialysis services; and hospice services
Staff Contacts:
ISSUE: By law, each year the Commission reviews Medicare’s fee-for-service payment policies and makes payment update recommendations. For our March 2026 report to the Congress, we consider whether payments to skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, dialysis facilities, and hospices are adequate and how they should be updated in 2027.
KEY POINTS: Last month, for each of these settings, commissioners examined information on beneficiaries’ access to care, quality of care, providers’ access to capital, and the relationship between Medicare’s payments and providers’ costs, and discussed the Chair’s draft update recommendations.
ACTION: Commissioners will review the findings and vote on the draft update recommendations.
01/15/2026 . 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Mandated report: The impact of recent changes to the home health prospective payment system
Staff Contacts:
ISSUE: In 2020, CMS implemented major changes to fee-for-service Medicare’s home health prospective payment system (PPS), as required by the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2018. These included a new 30-day period as the unit of payment (replacing the 60-day unit) and a new patient classification system (the Patient-Driven Groupings Model or PDGM), which eliminated the number of therapy visits as a factor in the payment system.
KEY POINTS: The BBA of 2018 requires MedPAC to assess the impact of the changes to the home health PPS on agency payments and costs and the delivery and quality of care, and to provide an interim and a final report to the Congress. In March 2022, the Commission submitted its interim report assessing the initial impact of the PDGM on home health care in 2020. Last month, staff presented findings about the impacts associated with the PDGM in 2023. The final report is due March 15, 2026.
ACTION: Commissioners will review and discuss the draft report.
01/15/2026 . 2:10 pm - 3:10 pm
Analyzing recent increases in Part D bids
Staff Contacts:
ISSUE: The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) substantially redesigned the Medicare’s prescription drug (Part D) program by lowering beneficiary cost sharing and restoring the role of the capitated monthly payment (the “direct subsidy”) as the primary mechanism for subsidizing Part D premiums instead of Medicare’s cost-based reinsurance payments. Commissioners have expressed interest in learning more about the impact of the redesigned Part D benefit.
KEY POINTS: In 2025, when major provisions of the Part D redesign took place, the national average bid amount (a measure of plan benefit liability that is used to determine Medicare’s capitated monthly payments to plans) increased by 180 percent. The average bid amount rose sharply again in 2026. Higher bids have implications for both beneficiary premiums and Medicare costs.
ACTION: Commissioners will review and discuss the results from an analysis examining the drivers of the steep increase in plan bids.
01/15/2026 . 3:20 pm - 4:45 pm
Medicare Part D: Status report
Staff Contacts:
ISSUE: Each year we present findings on the status of Medicare’s Part D program.
KEY POINTS: MedPAC’s status report provides the most recent available information on how changes in law and policies are impacting the Part D program, including enrollment, plan offerings, beneficiary access and quality of services, Medicare’s payments to plans, and the structure of the Part D market.
ACTION: Commissioners will review and discuss the findings.
01/15/2026 . 4:50 pm - 6:00 pm
Ambulatory surgical centers: Status report
Staff Contacts:
ISSUE: Each year, we present findings on fee-for-service Medicare’s spending for and utilization of services in ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs).
KEY POINTS: MedPAC’s status report provides the most recent available information on ASC supply, volume of services provided to FFS beneficiaries, and Medicare spending.
ACTION: Commissioners will review and discuss the findings.
01/16/2026 . 9:00 am - 10:55 am
The Medicare Advantage program: Status report
Staff Contacts:
ISSUE: Each year, we present findings on the status of the Medicare Advantage (MA) program.
KEY POINTS: MedPAC’s status report provides the most recent available information on MA enrollment and beneficiary access to plans, plan rebates and supplemental benefits, MA market structure, Medicare payments to plans, plan coding practices, favorable selection, plan quality, and Medicare’s payments and MA plans’ costs for enrollees with end-stage renal disease.
ACTION: Commissioners will review and discuss the findings.
01/16/2026 . 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Mandated report: Dual-eligible special-needs plans
Staff Contacts:
ISSUE: The Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2018 directs the Commission to periodically compare the performance of Medicare plans that serve dually eligible beneficiaries, those who have both Medicare and Medicaid. Most of these plans are specialized MA plans known as dual-eligible special-needs plan (D–SNPs). The Commission last reported on this topic in March 2024.
KEY POINTS: We evaluate D-SNP performance using clinical quality measures and patient-experience surveys.
ACTION: Commissioners will review and discuss the findings.