The list of ASM participants is out. Are you in?

by: Julia Kyles, CPC Feb 10, 2026

CMS is forging ahead with the ambulatory specialty model (ASM), a mandatory quality of care program set to launch Jan. 1, 2027, and run through 2031.

The most recent step was the release of the initial list of physicians who will participate in the first year of the heart failure model or the low back pain model.

CMS selected participants from the following specialties.

Heart failure cohort	Low back pain cohort
Cardiology	Anesthesiology Interventional pain management Neurosurgery Orthopedic surgery Pain management Physical medicine and rehabilitation (physiatry)

A physician’s specialty is based on “the specialty designation on the majority of a clinician’s Medicare Part B claims,” CMS explained.

Specialists can check the list for their national provider identifier (NPI) or first and last name. Practice staff can also search the organization’s legal name to determine if more than one physician is on the participant list. Qualified health care professionals (QHP) are excluded from the program.

If a physician is not listed, they’re in the clear for 2027. CMS might remove some providers from the final 2027 list or add more participants in upcoming years.

A physician who is on the list should complete the ASM contact information form. A member of the practice can also perform this task.

Physicians or a practice member should also make sure the listed information is correct, including the practice’s small practice status, which is in the eighth column of the data file. The ASM defines a small practice as group that employs fewer than 16 clinicians under the same tax identification number. Therefore, a group with six physicians and 12 QHPs is not a small group.

Participants can review the five quality measures for each cohort and the two improvement activities that will apply to both groups. Requirements for the promoting interoperability measure are available in the Code of Federal Regulations.

Blog Tags: CMS, Quality payment program

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