The Primary Care Collaborative is seeing positive attention and reaction to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) just released proposed policy changes for Medicare payments under the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) for 2026. Most notably, national health care reporters underscore PCC’s view that the adjustments, if enacted, will result in more investment in primary care and prevention, which for decades has been less emphasized.
The New York Times, following an interview with PCC President and CEO Ann Greiner, explained how payments for services such as care management and cognitive visits could rise and fix underlying flaws in the current compensation model. Greiner said, “we’re producing a lot of expensive health care services and I think we need to try some new ideas to produce health.”
The CMS proposal includes an “efficiency adjustment” to fee schedule payments that would help correct longstanding imbalances between primary care and other services, better incorporate empirical analysis of clinician time and shift payment from facility-based to community-based practices.
Axios included Greiner’s praise for the agency’s willingness to address the core reasons Medicare has underinvested in primary care and prevention. The news outlet also explained Medicare’s proposed 3.8% payment bump for physicians in alternative payment models and a broader shift toward data-informed pricing.
The CMS move to use inflation-adjusted cost data instead of survey-based inputs could result in higher payments for family medicine, geriatrics and psychiatry. Greiner praised the agency’s willingness to propose addressing the core reasons Medicare has underinvested in primary care and prevention in the Axios coverage.
STAT News emphasized how the new “efficiency adjustment” would reduce payments for routine procedures while sparing time-based services like primary care visits. “You just can’t treat these different kinds of services all the same,” said Greiner.
Fierce Healthcare positioned the draft rule within a broader modernization effort toward the Physician Fee Schedule, noting its proposed emphasis on prevention, chronic disease management and payment realignment. The outlet quoted Greiner calling for a reinvigorated national focus on prevention, with whole-person primary care at the center.
PCC’s statement emphasized its longstanding support of hybrid payment alternatives and how that appears to align with a CMS proposal for a new behavioral health integration billing code that health care providers could use with Advanced Primary Care Management (APCM) services. CMS signaled its desire to incorporate more preventive care and cost-sharing beneficiary relief into the APCM bundle in the future, which PCC applauds.
PCC is reviewing proposal details with members and will be responding by the September deadline.