CRUSH and procurement push
CMS’s CRUSH initiative is soliciting input on new anti‑fraud measures and domestic procurement rules that could increase supplier‑level reporting and provider documentation burden. Hospital and lab leaders are weighing impacts on specimen tracking, reporting workflows, and procurement transparency as AHA and essential hospitals submit comments. (aha.org, essentialhospitals.org)
CMS published the CRUSH Request for Information in the Federal Register on February 27, 2026 under file code CMS‑6098‑NC and set a public comment deadline of March 30, 2026. (federalregister.gov) The RFI solicits feedback on more than a dozen subject areas that CMS flagged for potential rulemaking, including enhanced provider enrollment screening, preclusion list reforms, DMEPOS supplier oversight, laboratory‑test fraud, and AI‑assisted coding. (foleyhoag.com) The CRUSH package was unveiled alongside a $259.5 million deferral of federal Medicaid funds to Minnesota and a nationwide six‑month moratorium on new Medicare enrollment for certain DMEPOS suppliers, measures CMS announced Feb. 25, 2026. (foleyhoag.com) Clinical laboratory groups formally responded: the American Clinical Laboratory Association submitted comments on March 23, 2026 and highlighted that Medicare Part B spending on clinical diagnostic laboratory tests was $8.4 billion in 2024. (acla.com) The American Hospital Association’s March 30, 2026 comment letter urged CMS to ensure CRUSH actions are data‑driven and warned that a typical 161‑bed hospital faces more than $562,299 annually in regulatory compliance costs. (aha.org) America’s Essential Hospitals urged CMS to minimize provider burden by requiring suppliers to report sourcing data rather than hospitals, and recommended targeting payment incentives through an “essential health system” designation while commenting on the ANPRM on March 30, 2026. (essentialhospitals.org) Providers and vendors are already pointing to specimen‑tracking and LIMS integrations as ways to produce audit‑ready chain‑of‑custody records for regulatory review, with commercial RFID and real‑time tracking solutions explicitly marketed for CAP/Joint Commission audit readiness. (id-integration.com)
