Key Advocacy Wins
Certificate of Need Expansion 
•  The governor’s legislative proposal would have expanded Certificate of Need (CON)     
   requirements for physician office purchases, mergers, and practice transactions.
•  CSMS successfully advocated to prevent new CON requirements for physician offices from 
   being enacted.
•  Final legislation did not expand CON requirements for physician practices.
New Physician CME Mandate 
•  CSMS prevented legislation that would have created a new mandatory CME requirement for 
    physicians related to the issuance of handicap placards.
Insurance Lookback Reform 
•  Legislation reduced the time during which health insurers can take back payments on clean 
   claims from 18 months to 12 months for administrative or eligibility-related issues.
EHR Documentation Proposal 
•  Defeated legislative proposal that would have required physicians to document all violent or 
   combative patient encounters in their EHR, raising significant concerns about liability 
   exposure, workflow challenges, and operational feasibility.
Medicaid Rate Increases
•  Preserved $45 million allocated for FY 2027 Medicaid rate increases and secured an 
   additional $5 million in funding.
PREVENTED
DEFEATED
PASSED
BLOCKED
PRESERVED
AND 
EXPANDED
The Work Continues
Insurance Downcoding Reform
•  Legislation addressing insurer downcoding practices passed the Senate but did not receive a vote in the House 
   before the legislative session adjourned.
•  CSMS will continue pursuing downcoding reform as a top advocacy priority.
Medicaid Physician Reimbursement
•  While FY ’27 will add about $50 million to Medicaid rate increases, this amount remains inadequate to 
   increase physician Medicaid rates to levels that will sustain an adequate network for patient access to care.
•  CSMS will continue advocating for Medicaid physician rate reform to improve patient access to care and 
   support practice sustainability.

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