AABB Publishes Summary of CY 2026 Hospital OPPS Final Rule

AABB released a summary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)’s final rule updating Medicare payment rates and policies under the hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) and the ambulatory surgical center payment system for calendar year (CY) 2026. The agency finalized a 2.6% increase to all OPPS payment rates.

Each section of the summary document describes key provisions within the final rule related to the AABB community. These include payment policies and rates for transfusion medicine and cellular therapies, along with the exclusion of cell and gene therapies from comprehensive ambulatory payment classifications (C-APCs) when they are not integral to the primary service.

Finally, the summary document features tables of payment rates for blood and blood products, as well as transfusion, apheresis and stem cell procedures.

Members with questions or feedback may contact advocacy@aabb.org.