Americans diagnosed with skin cancer every single day
Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime
melanoma’s five-year survival rate caught early vs. caught late
Americans battle this cancer every year
A $285 million cut aimed at the front lines of skin cancer care
In July 2026, the agency that runs Medicare proposed its 2027 payment rule. For dermatology, the rule stacks three cuts into one: a lower baseline rate, a rewritten formula for clinic overhead, and half payment for procedures done the same day as an exam. Together they would take roughly $285 million a year away from dermatology — about a third of all Medicare payment reductions across every medical specialty, even though dermatology accounts for less than 3% of Medicare Part B spending.
This is not a general belt-tightening that happens to touch dermatologists. About 91% of the dermatology codes CMS targeted are directly used to find and treat skin cancer. And the cuts run so deep that common procedures like biopsies would pay less than they cost to perform.
This cut is aimed at cancer care
of the dermatology codes CMS targeted are used to find and treat skin cancer.
in Medicare cuts absorbed by dermatology alone
of dermatologists face cuts greater than 15%
what routine biopsies would pay under the rule
For policy readers: the details+
The CY2027 Medicare PFS proposed rule cuts dermatology through three mechanisms. (1) Conversion factor: −1.68% for non-QP clinicians ($32.84). (2) Modifier 25: a 50% payment reduction for procedures performed the same day as a separately identifiable E/M visit, despite a 2021 OIG review finding dermatologists generally bill Modifier 25 correctly and RUC processes having already removed overlapping costs. Under the 50% reduction, reimbursement falls below CMS’ own calculated direct practice expense (about −$14.76 per lesion shave, −$11.83 per tangential biopsy, −$13.10 per punch biopsy). (3) Practice expense: elimination of the Indirect Practice Cost Index (IPCI) in favor of a uniform formula; the Medicare-commissioned 2018 RAND analysis warned that removing specialty-specific inputs would “likely distort payments for specialties that have more expensive PE structures” and modeled a 27% PE RVU cut for dermatology; RAND also documented dermatology’s building and occupancy costs at roughly twice those of primary care. CMS estimates a 9% specialty impact from the rule alone, roughly 11% with conversion factor changes, and client modeling projects 15% to 18% fully phased in. In 14 states the cuts would drop Medicare reimbursement below Medicaid rates.
14 states where Medicare payment for skin cancer care would fall below Medicaid
In 14 states, Medicare would pay less than Medicaid
Only about a third of dermatologists can afford to see Medicaid patients now; if Medicare rates sink below that, seniors on Medicare will face the same long waits and closed doors.
Practices that close or sell to hospital systems don’t make care cheaper, either: the same visit in a hospital department costs Medicare and taxpayers more. Federal analysts found that this kind of shift added $615 million in Medicare spending over five years.
New: Poll data — see what Americans think of the cuts →The people who can least afford a missed melanoma
Skin cancer does not strike evenly. For the Americans below, the difference between an early diagnosis and a late one is the difference between a quick outpatient procedure and a fight for survival.
Has early detection saved someone you love? Share your story →
Early beats late. Every time, in every way.
Fifty years of progress got America’s melanoma survival rate from 82% to 99% and reduced treatment costs. The screening, biopsies, and treatment that dermatologists deliver in local communities did that work; they perform nearly all of the nation’s skin cancer procedures.
Melanoma five-year survival
Caught early
Usually a single office procedure.
the cost when caught late
Caught after it spreads
Advanced treatment, per patient — a bill that lands on families and taxpayers.
Three fixes, all within CMS’ power
Withdraw the same‑day cut
Withdraw the 50% payment cut for same-day procedures, so patients can keep getting a suspicious spot checked and biopsied in one visit.
Pay what care actually costs
Keep overhead payment tied to what care actually costs to deliver, rather than a one-size-fits-all formula the government’s own researchers warned against.
Index updates to inflation
Tie Medicare payment updates to inflation, so this fight doesn’t have to be refought every year.
Who we are
Save Skin Cancer Care is a national campaign of dermatologists, clinicians, patients, and communities who believe the fight against America’s most common cancer should not be defunded just as we’re winning it. We bring the evidence, the economics, and the voices of the people early detection has saved.