Bill adds rules for how Medicare tests new payment models.
H.R. 10706 — Strengthening Innovation in Medicare and Medicaid Act · Filed by Adrian Smith (R-NE) · Introduced Oct 1, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill limits how CMI tests new payment models. It caps Phase I testing at 5 years and 500,000 people. CMI can start only 6 new Phase I models per year. The bill requires doctors and hospitals to get hardship waivers. It requires real-time checks on patient harm. Congress gets 45 days to stop model growth. The bill also restores court review of CMI actions. It requires public notice and 45-day comment periods.
Who it affects
Medicare and Medicaid people gain real-time checks on harms. Doctors and hospitals gain access to the data and math used to judge models. Congress gains a 45-day window to stop model growth.
One thing to notice
The bill creates a 45-day window for Congress to block model growth using a joint resolution. This may face legal challenges.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Oct 1, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 1, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Rules and House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Phase I testing — The first stage of trying out a new payment model on a limited group.
- hardship waivers — Permission to skip a rule if it causes real trouble for a doctor or hospital.
- joint resolution — A formal decision passed by both the House and Senate.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (20,228 characters) on Oct 7, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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