Bundled Payments (BPCI/CJR)

In testimony before Congress yesterday, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directly addressed the future of Medicare bundled payment models, indicating the administration’s openness to significant redesigns of BPCI and CJR as part of proposed FY27 payment reforms. Kennedy’s remarks signaled intensified scrutiny of current episodic payment structures and hinted at a broader push for alignment across ACO and advanced alternative payment models—raising immediate questions for health systems and payers about potential mandatory participation and risk adjustment standards. These signals, emerging amid partisan tensions, suggest stakeholders should prepare for a transformative policy environment as HFMA reports.