CMS Burden Reduction Conference: Key Takeaways
On February 25, 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) hosted the 2026 Burden Reduction Conference. CMS convened agency officials, healthcare professionals, and patient advocates to discuss reducing administrative burden, strengthening access to quality care, and improving the healthcare experience for clinicians and patients. The meeting provided insight into the agency’s future plans and approach to combating fraud, waste, and abuse.
Key Takeaways
The medical profession: In his opening remarks, CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, said he felt the medical profession had lost its “mojo” and that it was their civic responsibility to speak out. Given the medical community’s active role in healthcare issues, these comments could be interpreted as indicating that he sought input from nontraditional voices (e.g., outside medical specialty societies and academic institutions). Major medical associations have challenged and even sued the current administration on several issues.
Prior authorization: CMS is not abandoning prior authorization but reforming it. Dr. Oz raised the question, “Can we do it better?” He also discussed the benefits of golf carding as a way to reduce burden and make it more efficient. While not mentioned during the meeting, CMS launched a prior authorization model for a limited set of services in Traditional Medicare in 2026. Based on these comments, we could potentially see this model expanded or other prior authorization efforts initiated by CMS in the future.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): Multiple speakers across various contexts discussed how AI will help them advance their goals of combating fraud and abuse, enhancing transparency, reducing clinician burden, and improving the patient experience. This discussion signals a growing role of AI at CMS in a range of capacities.
Patient Experience: The agency is seeking to improve the patient experience. While patients now have access to medical records, the challenge is how to make that data more actionable. How can that data help patients and caregivers make better decisions? The discussion covered personal health records, remote wearables, and health apps. The issue was raised that if a patient arrives at a visit with outside data and raises questions, there needs to be a way for the clinician to be compensated for their time addressing these questions. This discussion indicates that elevating the patient experience is a priority for CMS.
CMS.GOV: The agency is seeking to make cms.gov, the website for Medicare beneficiaries, more interoperable and to improve the experience for its users. In a separate but related announcement this week, the agency said it plans to create a directory of vetted digital tools for beneficiaries.
Rural Health and Value-based Care: Presenters discussed the role of value-based care in addressing challenges in rural care delivery. There is a need for models that go beyond physicians to provide other aging services. The Reconciliation Bill signed by President Trump in July 2025 included a $50 billion Rural Health fund, representing about 37% of the estimated loss of federal Medicaid funding in rural areas. CMS is seeking to distribute these funds to rural communities through the Rural Health Transformation Program established in December 2025. CMS will have leeway in how the funds are distributed, and they will not be subject to administrative or judicial review.
Opportunities for Further Input: While CMS did not solicit audience questions during this hybrid meeting, it did ask audience members to share their burden-reduction ideas and submit them to the conference email (burdenreductionconference@cms.hhs.gov). CMS seeks input in two areas: (1) What administrative tasks are genuinely necessary and improve care, and what do we need to not get rid of? (2) What policies, however well-intentioned, could be reduced without harming patient care?
These themes around prior authorization, AI, the role of value-based care, and plans for patient experience could be woven into future regulations, models, or other initiatives.
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For more information and questions, please contact:
Sheila Madhani
Madhani Healthcare Consulting
Email: smadhani@madhani-health.com
Tel: (202) 679-2977