The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized its 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, introducing lower baseline physician payments, tighter remote patient monitoring (RPM) requirements, and changes to value-based care programs. The final rule includes steeper payment reductions than initially proposed, with conversion factors declining 2.31% for clinicians not qualifying through advanced alternative payment models and 1.83% for qualifying participants.
CMS will also reduce payment by 20% for the lower-cost service when an office visit and certain minor procedures are billed on the same day, including visits billed with modifier 25. Physician groups, including the Medical Group Management Association, criticized the cuts, warning that they could worsen financial pressures on practices already facing inadequate reimbursement.
For RPM and remote therapeutic monitoring, CMS finalized a requirement that services be performed by clinical staff employed by the practice, effectively restricting the use of third-party vendors. However, implementation of the vendor restriction has been delayed until January 1, 2029, giving practices two additional years to adapt. Other changes include a gradual phaseout of traditional MIPS reporting by 2031 and expanded incentives for participation in Medicare’s Shared Savings Program.