The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its CY 2026 Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule, introducing several major reforms aimed at improving payment accuracy and patient care. Notably, Medicare payments to physicians could increase by up to 3.8%, with the full adjustment going to providers participating in outcome-based payment models, marking a shift after years of stagnant or reduced reimbursements. CMS is also proposing a move away from relying solely on AMA RUC-derived data to a more objective, data-driven method for determining physician payment values. The rule places a strong emphasis on primary care and chronic disease management by introducing new performance metrics and eliminating low-impact quality measures. Additionally, CMS is targeting excessive spending and potential fraud by reforming how skin substitutes are reimbursed—treating them as incident-to supplies—which could reduce related expenditures by up to 90%. These proposals underscore CMS’s commitment to aligning payments with value, prevention, and integrated behavioral health.