The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) published a new report that highlights 2026 Medicare reimbursement updates that could influence workers’ comp medical costs in jurisdictions that rely on CMS rates or payment methodologies.

While the degree of impact may depend on each state’s fee schedule, the NCCI notes that, similar to 2025, the 2026 CMS updates are not expected to be a significant source of upward pressure on overall workers’ compensation medical costs. The report focuses on changes made to the Physician Fee Schedule, for Facility Payment Systems, and for the DMEPOS Fee Schedule.

The 2026 physician conversion factor increased 3.3% from 2025, marking the first increase after five years of declines, driven largely by a temporary 2.5% payment increase. Additionally, the 2026 physician Relative Value Units (RVUs) were rebalanced, resulting in higher payment rates for Evaluation and Management services and lower payment rates for Surgical services.

Facility base rates saw moderate increases consistent with prior-year changes, while the CMS DMEPOS update factor increased 2.0% in 2026, matching the 2025 increase.