CMS Releases 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule

Family physicians will benefit from the final rules for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) and Quality Payment Program, which were recently released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Among the highlights:

• Total allowed charges by family physicians are expected to increase, according to CMS estimates but only for non-facility-based family physicians. Facility-based FPs will see charges fall by 9% because of a change in methodology.
• A proposal on an efficiency adjustment, which would apply a reduction to the intra-service time and physician work of most codes, was left largely unchanged.
• The G2211 code will be allowed as an add-on code with home or residence evaluation and management services.
• A policy to allow teaching physicians to have a virtual presence for the purposes of billing for services involving residents has been made permanent. The policy applies to residents in all teaching settings.

“The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is pleased by several provisions in the 2026 Medicare physician fee schedule that strengthen the health care system and prioritize primary care,” AAFP said in a press statement. “Medicare helps millions of Americans access ongoing, comprehensive care from family physicians, and these actions from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) bolster primary care.”

For more information, CMS produced fact sheets for the MPFS as well as for the Medicare Shared Savings Program.