CY2027 Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule Lands — CMS Proposes the FQHC PPS Base Rate Rise to $212.91 (+2.5%), Comments Close September 14

CMS published the CY2027 Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule (CMS-1848-P, FR doc 2026-14327) in today's Federal Register — 91 FR 43842–44557, comments close September 14, 2026. This resolves the watch item carried in this file's header for the last several cycles.

The headline FQHC number, verbatim from the rule at 91 FR 43959: "Multiplying the CY 2026 FQHC PPS base rate amount of $207.72 by the proposed CY 2027 FQHC market basket update of 2.5 percent ($207.72 x 1.025) results in a proposed CY 2027 FQHC PPS base rate amount of $212.91." Treat $212.91 as PROVISIONAL, not locked: CMS states it will refresh the market basket and productivity adjustment at the final rule using historical data through Q2 2026, so the final figure will move.

The rule also proposes conforming regulatory text (§§405.2463(b)(3), 405.2469(d)) for CAA-2026 §6209(d), which delays the RHC/FQHC in-person visit requirement for mental-health telehealth to an extended date of January 1, 2028 — note the underlying statute (Pub. L. 119-75, Feb 3 2026) is already tracked; only the regulatory codification is new here, so do not re-report the statute as news.

Two honesty notes. (1) The proposed DSMT/MNT stand-alone-visit change is an RHC proposal that aligns RHCs UP to existing FQHC treatment — FQHC payment is unchanged, and it should not be framed as an FQHC win; CMS adds that it does "not expect in future rulemaking to propose additional preventive services beyond which are currently paid for in FQHCs," i.e. it considers the FQHC preventive menu complete.

(2) The ACCESS Model co-management G-codes G0676/G0677/G0678 appear ZERO times in all 716 pages, as does "ACCESS Model" — the rule that would naturally have settled FQHC billing eligibility is silent, so our UNCONFIRMED framing stands and must not be upgraded.