ACLM applauds CMS’ proposed changes that emphasize chronic disease prevention, behavioral health, and transformation of primary care for Medicare beneficiaries
ST. LOUIS, July 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) welcomes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule announced yesterday, which includes long-awaited provisions that can provide greater access to lifestyle medicine for Medicare beneficiaries and improve clinician payment for lifestyle medicine’s team-based, whole-person care delivery
The proposed rule includes proposals that reflect ACLM advocacy on high-value, whole-person care including:
- A dedicated billing code for shared medical appointments, the scalable delivery model that can achieve more positive chronic disease and behavior change outcomes than 15-minute, one-on-one visits
- Behavioral health valuation, which will increase reimbursement for clinical psychologists and other behavioral health clinicians, including integration into primary care
- A national payment pathway for health coaching, the key to sustainable behavior change
- A request for information (RFI) on how Medicare can move primary care toward hybrid payment models— blending the predictability of population-based payment with the flexibility teams need to practice differently.
“This year’s rule includes proposals for which we have been advocating for some time to strengthen primary care, provide patients agency in their own health, and improve reimbursement for effective care models,” said ACLM President Padmaja Patel, MD, DipABLM, FACLM, FACP, CPE. We thank the CMS team for recognizing the importance of these critical factors in the treatment and prevention of chronic disease and look forward to continuing our work together to provide a standard of care that restores health.”
“ACLM applauds CMS for taking meaningful steps in the CY 2027 Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule to advance whole-person health and recognize the critical role of lifestyle interventions in improving patient outcomes,” said ACLM CEO John Findley, MD, CPE
ACLM will continue to review the rule, offer comments and respond to the RFI
About ACLM® The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) is the nation’s medical professional society building the infrastructure to scale lifestyle medicine as the new standard of care. ACLM translates evidence-based lifestyle interventions into education, certification, and implementation, equipping physicians, healthcare professionals, and systems of care to treat the root causes of chronic disease. Since 2004, ACLM has trained more than 100,000 health professionals and delivered over 1.2 million hours of accredited education. With hundreds of institutional partners worldwide, ACLM is helping healthcare move from a system designed to manage disease to one capable of restoring health.
