healthcare_reimbursement

Mainz – November 05, 2026 -- Germany's Federal Guild of Hearing Acousticians (biha) warns that the draft Hilfsmittelmodernisierungs- und Bürokratieabbaugesetz (HiB) could push small and mid-sized hearing care businesses into insolvency by delaying their payments for weeks or months.

Draft law gives statutory insurers control over all hearing system fittings

The bill would introduce stronger oversight of every hearing system provision, carried out by the statutory health insurers (GKV). According to biha, insurers would have to approve fittings even where the patient already holds a specialist medical prescription.

ROCKVILLE – – November 05, 2026 -- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will cut payment by 20% for certain same-day services starting January 1, 2027, according to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule, drawing opposition from the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA).

Modifier 25 claims face reduction when billed with 0-day global procedures

The reduction applies when an office/outpatient evaluation and management (E/M) visit is billed with modifier 25 alongside a 0-day global procedure. The highest-paid service is still paid in full, while the other applicable services take the cut. The policy covers services furnished by the same physician, or physicians of the same specialty, in the same group practice.

Washington – November 05, 2026 -- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) cut its proposed payment reductions for total knee, total hip and total shoulder arthroplasty, plus shoulder hemiarthroplasty, by nearly 50% in the final calendar year 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, according to the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).

CMS reverses course on relative value units after physician and lawmaker pushback

CMS moved away from even steeper cuts to the relative value units for these procedures. The agency acted after feedback from physicians, medical societies and lawmakers, who raised concerns about patient access and the financial strain on practices. The final rule takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Osnabrück – October 31, 2026 -- The share of births with one-to-one midwife care during the key phase of labor has doubled from one in four to one in two since Germany's nationwide midwife services contract took effect, according to the statutory health insurers' association GKV-Spitzenverband.

Stefanie Stoff-Ahnis, deputy chair of the GKV-Spitzenverband, told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung that the result shows higher quality in care. The contract entered into force on November 1, 2025, and governs care by roughly 18,000 freelance midwives across Germany. According to the insurers, it has cut bureaucracy and raised pay.

Hourly rates rise 33% outside hospitals and more than double in clinics

For out-of-hospital work, hourly pay increased by just over 33% to about 74 euros. For one-to-one care in hospitals, the rate more than doubled to 85.40 euros per hour.

Altstätten, Switzerland and Boston – October 07, 2026 -- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has approved a New Technology Add-On Payment for icotec's CMORE® CT spine implant system, effective October 07, 2026, opening expanded reimbursement access for eligible hospitals treating Medicare patients.

CMS reimbursement decision follows April 2025 Break-Through Device Designation

icotec's CMORE® Cervicothoracic System received FDA Break-Through Device Designation in April 2025, a status that preceded the latest NTAP approval. The NTAP program provides eligible hospitals additional payment for qualifying technologies used in traditional Medicare procedures, applying here to specified spinal conditions and surgeries.

New York – September 08, 2026 -- Bayesian Health has secured a New Technology Add-on Payment (NTAP) from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, making it the first continuous sepsis monitoring technology to hold both FDA clearance and a dedicated Medicare reimbursement pathway.

The approval, issued under CMS's FY 2027 Inpatient Prospective Payment System Final Rule, takes effect September 08, 2026, and allows hospitals using Bayesian's FDA-cleared sepsis flagging device to bill Medicare an add-on payment of up to $61.84 per eligible inpatient case.