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2026 Medicare Final Rule Part 2: Rapid-Fire Q&A on Upstream Drivers of Health
The 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule confirms CMS’s strong push toward whole-person care, creating new reimbursement pathways for models focused on nutrition, physical activity, and social supports. In Part 2 of our series, Mike Pappas and Olivia Goldner analyze the updates to "Upstream Drivers of Health."
CMS Sharpens Focus on “Upstream Drivers” of Health in the 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
The final 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) solidifies Medicare’s shift toward paying for the assessment and mitigation of "upstream drivers" (e.g., nutrition, housing, social support). Discover how the revised HCPCS G0136 for physical activity/nutrition assessment and the broadened HCPCS G0019 descriptor for Community Health Integration (CHI) unlock new, aligned reimbursement streams for digital health and comprehensive care models. Also, learn how MFTs and MHCs can now initiate CHI services.