Q2 to Q3 2026 CMS Fee Schedule Update: Drug Payment, CLFS, and RVU Changes

Executive summary

Schedule summary

Key Q3 2026 takeaways

• Drug payment rates accounted for nearly all of the quarter-to-quarter movement. These are the updates most likely to affect reimbursement benchmarks and payment-monitoring workflows.
• RVU changes were limited. Most RVU additions carried zero component values, while A4100 showed the most meaningful RVU component change.
• CLFS changes were mostly code-list updates, including newly added lab codes and several removed lab codes.
• No DMEPOS or GPCI changes were identified in this Q2 to Q3 review.
• Zero-rate additions should be reviewed carefully before treating them as payable-code changes.

Notable Q3 changes

• The largest drug payment increases included Q2057, Q2041, Q2053, Q2054, Q2055.
• The largest drug payment decreases included J9226, Q2042, Q2056, Q2043, J9183.
• Several drug codes had large percentage swings, including J1072, J1740, Q5124, J3489, J1811, J1813.
• A4100 had the main RVU component change, with facility and non-facility practice expense RVUs dropping from 3.81 to 0.00.
• CLFS removed codes included 0029U, 0423U, 0577U, 0031U.
• CLFS added 87798 with modifier QW and a nonzero Q3 rate.

What this means for billing teams

Most Q3 2026 movement was concentrated in drug payment rates, so practices billing J-codes or Q-codes should review their highest-volume codes first. CLFS and RVU updates were more limited, but newly added, removed, and zero-value codes should still be reviewed before updating payer benchmarks, internal fee schedules, or underpayment monitoring workflows.

Full all-changes table

Use the filters below to narrow the Q3 update by schedule or change type. Each code links to its MedFeeSchedule code page for a closer look at current payment data.