CMS finalizes 2027 Ambulatory Specialty Model participation and reporting steps
Oct 11, 2026 edition · GC-2026-0117 · Published 2026-10-11 · Version 3 · Final
CMS reports the final 2027 Ambulatory Specialty Model participant list, making actual selection the threshold question for outpatient low-back-pain and heart-failure specialists. Required reporting and attestations are distinct from the newsletter's past educational event.
What happened
The September 17 newsletter says the mandatory ASM final participant list for the 2027 performance year is available. It directs specialists frequently treating Original Medicare patients for outpatient low back pain or heart failure to check whether they were selected. Selected participants must meet model requirements, including required measures and attestations. Specialty or service-line identity alone does not establish an individual clinician's selection, and the newsletter does not reproduce the participant roster.
CMS says future Medicare Part B payments for participants will be adjusted according to performance on reported measures and activities. That creates a connection between model reporting, source-data quality, and future payment review, without establishing the complete measures or attestation calendar in this short notice. Its September 30 office hour is already past as of October 11; the model page, participant materials, and FAQs remain the referenced routes for detailed instructions. No organization-specific reporting completion or selection is established here.
Scope and timing
- Authority status
- Final
- Applicability
- Directly applicable
- Audience
- Health systems, Provider networks
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
- Affected functions
- Clinical Operations, Quality, Finance, IT, Compliance
- Responsible owner
- Clinical Operations
- Recorded date
- 2027-01-01
- Date type
- implementation
Why it matters
Selected participants need accountable owners for attestations, reporting, measure data, and finance controls before the 2027 performance period.
Recommended action
Confirm selection status, assign an executive owner, calendar each CMS reporting and attestation step, and test source data before the 2027 model year.
Implementation playbook
- Confirm whether the organization appears on the final participant list. Clinical Operations · Due 2026-10-02
- Inventory reporting and attestation requirements. Quality · Due 2026-10-16
- Test measure and payment source data. IT · Due 2026-11-13
Sources
- MLN Connects Newsletter, September 17, 2026Official · Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services · 2026-09-17 · Source review 2026-10-11
- Ambulatory Specialty Model overview webcast slides, January 1, 2027 launchOfficial · Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services · Source review 2026-10-14
Complete edition and supplemental material
This finding in the complete approved report →Regulatory horizons, CIA trends and implementation trackers remain in the full report.
Read the entire Medicare & Medicaid report →