Payer Contracting & Networks

CMS’s newly released 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D landscape signals continued network and product retrenchment: insurers are cutting MA plan offerings and some face enrollment caps even as CMS frames the market as “stable,” creating near-term disruption risk for ACOs, delegated medical groups, and health systems dependent on MA risk contracts and narrow-network steerage (Healthcare Dive; AHA). At the same time, CMS’s RFI on Medicare Part D “reasonable and relevant” pharmacy contracting standards—part of 2026 PBM reforms—is drawing pharmacy coalition support and could reshape preferred pharmacy networks, adherence economics, and medication-access levers that VBC organizations rely on for chronic disease management.