On April 11, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a shift in its approach to health equity under the FY2026 Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rule in alignment with Executive Order 14192. The proposal would roll back several equity-focused quality reporting requirements across key programs. Measures tied to hospitals’ commitment to health equity and screening for social drivers of health would be removed from the Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program. CMS also plans to eliminate the Health Equity Adjustment from the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program and cease voluntary demographic data collection under the new Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM). These moves reflect a broader effort to reduce administrative burdens on providers, but they’ve sparked concern among equity advocates who see the changes as a potential step backward.

In parallel with these health equity rollbacks, CMS is pressing forward with broader reforms aimed at simplifying quality reporting and reducing regulatory red tape. Hospitals that comply with quality and electronic reporting rules would see a 2.4% increase in inpatient operating payments, with $4 billion in additional funding expected system-wide. CMS is also proposing to streamline or remove several performance measures and to explore a full shift to digital, FHIR-based reporting. (CMS fact sheet)