Docs Take a Hit: What is CMS Signaling About Physician Work Valuation
For nearly a decade after the late-2000s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) policy changes, work Relative Value Units (RVUs) felt like a stable currency. Many organizations are locked into a specific year. 2008 being a common anchor – not because it was perfect, but because it was predictable. Productivity could be measured, compensation plans could be managed, and economic models could assume relative stability in physician work measurement.
That era is over. Recent CMS policy decisions – culminating in the 2026 Physician Fee Schedule – signal a philosophical shift in how physician work is valued, adjusted, and used as a policy lever. The takeaway is not that RVUs are broken; it is that they are no longer designed to be static. READ MORE
It’s Hard Being an Orphaned 340B Drug
Many hospitals that participate in the 340B Drug Pricing Program faced a dilemma as their Medicaid census fell or was projected to fall below the qualifying percentage. They used what appeared to be a loophole that allowed them to still qualify. This subset of hospitals – those that reclassified as “rural” to preserve or regain eligibility – also found a nasty and often misunderstood reimbursement squeeze. READ MORE
The Elimination of the Inpatient-Only List: Why It Matters
As of Jan. 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) initiated a three-year phase-out of the Inpatient-Only (IPO) List, which fundamentally reshapes how surgical inpatient status is determined, documented, and reimbursed.
While CMS frames this change as a modernization effort aligned with advances in surgical care, its downstream financial, operational, and compliance implications are profound, requiring coordinated response across surgical services, utilization management, perioperative operations, and hospital leadership.
Understanding not only what is changing, but why IPO status historically mattered and how its elimination shifts risk, is essential as health systems prepare for a more documentation-driven, audit-sensitive environment. READ MORE