The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the Contract Year (CY) 2027 Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Policy and Technical Changes final rule on April 2.
In the final rule, the agency finalized proposed changes to the STAR rating measures, including removing the Excellent Health Outcomes for All reward and 11 measures focused on administrative processes. The agency also finalized changes to Medicare Part D plans required under the Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169, PDF). These include eliminating the Part D coverage gap phase, reducing the annual out-of-pocket threshold, and removing cost-sharing for enrollees in the catastrophic phase. Some of the finalized policies related to MA involved removing the requirement for MA plans to send mid-year notices to beneficiaries about unused supplemental benefits and rolling back certain health equity requirements, including those related to MA utilization management committees and MA quality improvement programs.
Several requests for information were also included in the proposed rule [refer to Washington Highlights, Dec. 5, 2025]. While the CMS did not respond to comments directly, the agency acknowledged that these comments will be considered in future rulemaking.