AAMC President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, and Jonathan Jaffery, MD, AAMC chief health care officer, issued the following statement on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Calendar Year (CY) 2026 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) proposed rule:
“The AAMC is deeply concerned by provisions in CMS’ proposed CY 2026 hospital OPPS rule that would reduce payments to hospitals and profoundly harm the ability for academic health systems and teaching hospitals to care for the patients and communities they serve. The AAMC prioritizes strengthening our academic health systems and teaching hospitals, and several of the proposed policies in the rule would undermine these institutions that are critical for patient care and physician training.
The proposed cuts to Medicare reimbursement for off-campus hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) would have devastating and long-lasting effects on the nation’s academic health systems and teaching hospitals and their patients. In fact, these so-called 'site neutral' payment policies disproportionately impact AAMC member teaching hospitals and would harm their ability to provide care to their patients who are often the sickest and most complex. Additionally, accelerating the clawback of billions of dollars from hospitals as a result of 340B payment cuts that were struck down by the Supreme Court will have catastrophic effects on patients nationwide. The rule also increases the administrative and regulatory burden put on health care providers, counter to the administration’s goal of reducing unnecessary regulation.
To understand the unique impact these cuts will have on academic medicine, it is crucial to recognize that academic medicine’s four mission areas—clinical care, medical education and training, biomedical research, and community collaborations—are so deeply intertwined that cuts to the clinical mission limit the effectiveness of others. For example, when reimbursements to teaching hospitals are cut, it reduces the number of physicians who can be trained or limits the institution’s ability to invest in life-saving research. Ultimately, these policies will harm access to care and the health of patients and communities across the country.”