2026 Ushers in New Pricing Shift for Primary Care
Last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) brought an array of changes affecting seniors, with one quietly affecting healthcare costs in 2026. That change involves the concept of “Advanced Primary Care Management” (APCM). This pricing strategy allows primary care practices to add “Chronic Care Management” or “Care Coordination” charges to patient bills to recover costs for time spent outside of an office visit. Freelance finance and lifestyle writer Teri Monroe provides insight into the new billing practice in a post on savingadvice.com, noting that, “The justification for care coordination fees is that managing chronic diseases like diabetes or heart disease requires work that happens when you aren’t in the office.” As Ms. Monrow also points out, the new billing is not necessarily automatic, in that there is an explicit “opt-in” requirement included in the myriad paperwork defining relationships between patients and primary care offices.
To avoid surprises, check out Ms. Monroe’s article, titled “Medical Offices Are Charging New ‘Care Coordination’ Fees.”