The Alliance for Health Policy Releases Final Report from 2026 Signature Series on Health Care Payment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 2, 2026

The Alliance for Health Policy Releases Final Report from 2026 Signature Series on Health Care Payment

– Report synthesizes a yearlong, nonpartisan exploration of how health care payment works today and where policy could go next

– A companion educational resource maps twelve payment policies based on impact and feasibility

Washington, D.C. — The Alliance for Health Policy today released its final report from the 2026 Signature Series on Health Care Payment, concluding a yearlong, nonpartisan exploration of how health care is financed and paid for today, and what payment policy could look like in the future. The report synthesizes learnings from a listening tour, thought leader workshop, spotlight webinar, and public summit, which culminated in a congressional briefing yesterday on Capitol Hill.

“Health care payment shapes nearly every part of the health care system, yet it remains one of the least understood areas of health policy,” said Claire Sheahan, M.Sc., President and CEO of the Alliance for Health Policy. “This report captures a year of listening to experts across the health care ecosystem and translating what we heard into education for the policymakers and staff who work on these issues every day. Throughout the Series, we looked at the issue in the domains our experts identified as most important: overall insurance strategies, hospital payment, physician payment, and drug/device payment.”

“With recent interest on the Hill focused on physician payment, the time was right for a congressional briefing on MACRA,” said Sheahan. “We know that historical perspective and context is key to understanding for our audience, and this final event of the Series offered a refresher that allowed us to ground that education in a real example of how payment policy has been made, and remade, over time.”

The report built off findings from the Alliance’s Health Care Payment Insights Report, published in February 2026, based on in-depth interviews with experts across the health policy community. Using a systems thinking “iceberg model,” the Insights Report distinguished between the most visible payment debates, such as affordability, Medicare Advantage payment, and prescription drug pricing, and the deeper patterns, structures, and foundational questions that shape payment policy over time. Based on those insights, the Series organized its education around four structural areas: hospital payment, physician payment, drug payment, and system and insurance design.

The Insights Report also informed a Thought Leader Workshop convening more than fifty experts from across the health policy landscape. The workshop exercise included developing draft recommendations for a future congressional curriculum on health care payment, pairing policymakers’ immediate priorities with the foundational knowledge needed to assess payment proposals and their broader effects. Workshop participants also contributed to shaping the structure, tone, and content of the Alliance’s 2026 Summit on Health Care Payment in Washington, D.C.

As part of the Thought Leader Workshop, participants also mapped twelve payment-related policies and mechanisms along two dimensions: potential impact, meaning the extent to which a topic could affect cost, access, quality, or the structure of the payment system; and feasibility, meaning how politically, administratively, and operationally achievable related changes may be under current conditions. The resulting matrix is available as a standalone resource, helping policymakers see how experts ranked different payment policies in terms of impact and feasibility.

“We now have a year’s worth of insight on what is most important to understand about how health care payment actually works,” said Sheahan. “Thanks to the input from our Congressional Fellows and the experts who joined us at every stage of the listening process, this Series reflects the collected wisdom of policymakers and stakeholders across the health care system. It will be excellent fuel for our future programming on these topics. We are grateful to our sponsors and partners for making that work possible, and we are currently seeking additional partners to help carry these insights forward into future educational programming.”

Looking ahead, the Alliance will turn its attention to the 2027 Signature Series, which will explore the topic of health care affordability. Sponsorship opportunities are available for organizations interested in supporting the Alliance’s next year of nonpartisan health policy education.

Resources:

• Download the 2026 Signature Series final report
• Download the impact-feasibility matrix educational resource
• Connect with us about the 2027 Signature Series on affordability
• Learn more about partnering or sponsoring future health care payment education

View the full report:

View the impact-feasibility matrix:

About the Alliance for Health Policy

The Alliance for Health Policy is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping policymakers and the public better understand health policy, the root of the nation’s health care issues, and the trade-offs posed by various proposals for change. We believe a better health care system begins with a balanced exchange of evidence, experience, and multiple perspectives.

For press inquiries, please contact:

Carolyn Sobczyk
Communications Consultant
csobczyk@allhealthpolicy.org

For sponsorship inquiries, please contact:

Kelly J. Appenzeller
Director of Production and Development
kappenzeller@allhealthpolicy.org