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The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission March 13 released its March to Congress that includes recommendations for hospital and other Medicare payment systems for fiscal year 2026. Among the recommendations, MedPAC urged Congress to update the base payment rate for hospitals by current law plus 1%.  

“An update above current law is necessary given the combination of providers’ continued financial pressures, and almost two decades of sustained and substantial negative Medicare margins,” AHA wrote in a January letter to MedPAC. “Simply put, even after the recommended payment update, Medicare’s payments to hospitals would remain inadequate.”