Medicare Providers Face New $750 Enrollment Fee in 2026 Budget
Published Date: 12/3/2025
Notice
Summary
Starting January 1, 2026, institutional providers enrolling or updating their status in Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP will need to pay a $750 application fee. This fee applies to new enrollments, revalidations, or adding new Medicare locations and must be paid anytime during 2026. If you’re a healthcare provider in these programs, get ready to budget for this fee to keep your services running smoothly!
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 2 costs, 0 mixed.
$750 Enrollment Fee for Institutional Providers
If you are an institutional provider applying to enroll, revalidate enrollment, or add a new Medicare practice location, you must pay a $750 application fee for any application submitted between January 1, 2026 and December 31, 2026. The $750 amount is the calendar year (CY) 2026 application fee.
Who Is Exempt From the Fee
The fee is not required for a Medicare physician or non-physician practitioner submitting a CMS-855I, and it is not required for a prospective or revalidating Medicaid or CHIP provider who is an individual physician or non-physician practitioner. Also exempt are providers already enrolled as an institutional provider in Title XVIII or another state's Title XIX or XXI plan who have paid the application fee to a Medicare contractor or another state.
2026 Fee Increase and CMS Cost Estimates
CMS adjusted the CY 2025 fee of $730 by the 2.7% CPI-U increase (July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025), producing $749.71 which was rounded to $750 for CY 2026 (a $20 increase). CMS estimates 12,518 newly enrolling and 33,863 revalidating Medicare institutional providers (46,381 total) and 9,000 newly enrolling and 21,000 revalidating Medicaid/CHIP institutional providers (30,000 total) will be subject to the fee, resulting in a projected total increase of $1,527,620 in CY 2026 from the CY 2025 projections.
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