The 2026 Final Rule for payment policies under the Physician Fee Schedule was released 10/31/25, with official publication to occur today, 11/5/2025. I’d previously provided initial estimates of 2026 reimbursement based on the Proposed Rule that was published 7/16/2026.

The Final Rule retains the proposed rule recommended Conversion Factor (CF) of 33.42, representing a 3.3% increase over the 2025 CF of 32.3465. Given that the CF had previously declined the prior five years in a row, so the increase is a substantial reversal.

In addition, 2026 is the third year of a four year phased-in increase in the WORK component of the Relative Value Units (RVUs) for many of the psychology-related CPT codes (see Herz, G. I. (2024). Medicare reimbursement for psychologists).

Assumptions: (1) Values shown are the National Payment Amount (NPA), which will vary by geographic region due to the geographic correction factor. Check your local MAC for your specific rates once the MAC reports these. (2) Values are for non-facility (i.e., office) reimbursement. Reimbursement will be different (lower) for in-facility services. (3) Values are reported for the ten services most frequently provided by psychologists, plus group therapy (HCPCS 90853).

HCPCS 96132 continues to show the July estimated anomalous reduction in reimbursed amount, due to reductions in the Practice Expense (PE) and Malpractice (MP) components of the Relative Value Unit (RVU) Future advocacy will hopefully fix that anomaly.

Source:  CMS-1832-F