April 3, 2026 Washington, DC—Comment from Linda Couch, senior vice president, policy, LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit and mission-driven providers of aging services, on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule (CMS 1843-P), issued April 2, 2026:

“Given today’s uncertain economic environment, and the increased costs in critical categories including food, energy and wages, the modest 2.4% proposed payment rate boost announced late yesterday by CMS is cause for concern. Our nonprofit and mission-driven nursing home members strive to provide the highest quality care—and adequate payment is critical.

While we will provide a more thorough analysis of the rule in the coming weeks, our initial review reveals some significant improvements and advocacy wins that will benefit our nursing home members. These include the proposed removal of the two COVID vaccination measures from SNF QRP: COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage Among Healthcare Personnel and Percent of Patients/Residents Who Are Up to Date.

Our opposition to these is longstanding: both reflect personal choice and do not reflect or measure quality of nursing home care. That’s even more true now, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations having changed to shared clinical decision-making. Measuring uptake just doesn’t make sense. The agency’s recognition of that is a positive.”