AAMC - Association of American Medical Colleges
11/04/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/04/2026 17:48
AAMC Statement on CY 2027 Hospital OPPS Final Rule
- Press Release
AAMC Statement on CY 2027 Hospital OPPS Final Rule
Nov. 4, 2026
What happened: On Nov. 4, 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule for the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) for calendar year 2027.
Why it matters: The rule will cut Medicare reimbursement for hospital outpatient departments, severely reduce drug reimbursement for 340B hospitals, and accelerate recoupment of billions of dollars related to previous unlawful 340B hospital payment cuts. These will have devastating and enduring effects on access to care for patients across the country.
The big picture: The AAMC urges CMS to reverse these payment cuts.
AAMC Chief Health Care Officer Jonathan Jaffery, MD, MS, MMM, issued the following statement on the calendar year (CY) 2027 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) final rule released today by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS):
"The AAMC is deeply disappointed in today's CY 2027 hospital OPPS final rule, in which CMS finalized policies that will undermine the ability of academic health systems, teaching hospitals, and their faculty physicians to maintain access to care for the patients and communities they serve.
The rule will lead to a nearly five and a half billion dollar reduction in drug reimbursement to 340B hospitals. When that reduction is combined with cuts to imaging services provided at off-campus hospital outpatient departments and the accelerated recoupment of billions of dollars related to previous unlawful 340B hospital payment cuts, the impact of the rule will be devastating for patients.
Much to the disappointment of the AAMC, CMS has based its reimbursement to 340B hospitals on the results of a hasty and faulty survey, failing to follow the clear requirements of the Medicare statute. The drug payment cuts disproportionately affect and target non-profit and public hospitals serving low-income patients, while redistributing billions of dollars to hospitals that do not share the same safety-net and academic missions. These cuts threaten access to critical services made possible by the 340B program and will lead to worse health outcomes for patients. Every dollar that is cut from teaching hospitals is a dollar that can no longer support patient care, physician training, or investments in life-saving research
Media Contact
Stuart Heiser, Senior Media Relations Specialist
202-828-0059
[email protected]
The AAMC remains committed to pursuing all available avenues to reverse these payment cuts."
Past AAMC press releases and other media resources are available in the AAMC Press Center.
Established in 1876, the AAMC is a nonprofit association dedicated to improving the health of people everywhere through medical education, clinical care, biomedical research, and community collaborations. Its members are all 165 U.S. medical schools accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education; 11 Canadian medical schools accredited by the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools; more than 400 academic health systems and teaching hospitals; and more than 70 academic societies. The AAMC also collaborates with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and VA medical centers through their academic affiliations with AAMC-member institutions. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC leads and serves America's medical schools, academic health systems and teaching hospitals, and the millions of individuals across academic medicine, including more than 220,000 full-time faculty members, 100,000 medical students, 167,000 resident physicians, and 60,000 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the biomedical sciences. Through the Alliance of Academic Health Centers International, AAMC membership reaches more than 60 international academic health centers throughout five regional offices across the globe.
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