Cardiology saw significant changes in 2025 as technology and payer incentives shift the way that cardiovascular care is delivered.
The specialty also saw numerous disruptions in the last year, TCTMD reported Dec. 26, especially when it came to reimbursement for cardiology services.
Here are three things that disrupted cardiology in 2025, according to the report:
1. Cuts to cardiovascular research: President Donald Trump’s cuts to the National Institute of Health and other medical research projects were met with outrage by cardiologists and other physicians, who described the cuts’ ‘chilling’ effect on the specialty to TCTMD.
“A lot of investigators are very afraid right now, in that this is truly without precedent—how this [presidential] transition handled the nation’s scientists, and medical scientists in particular” Chandan Devireddy, MD, of Emory University in Atlanta told the publication.
2. CMS’ Physician Fee Schedule for 2026: CMS increased the Physician Fee Schedule conversion factor by 3.77% for 2026. While some said that the increase was a “step in the right direction,” it has been overall received by physicians, including cardiologists, as an insufficient increase in the wake of years of cuts to the MPFS and rising operational costs.
“The fee schedule is just a fundamental issue,” David Eagle, MD, president of the American Independent Medical Practice Association told Becker’s. “There’s just no way around it. The budget neutrality rules in the fee schedule are just so problematic over time that are going to need some relief. So that’s a priority of ours.
3. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act: Mr. Trump’s OBBBA, passed in July, included several notable provisions impacting cardiovascular physicians. This included restrictions on clinicians’ borrowing abilities to fund their medical education and new limits on Medicaid eligibility that are expected to impact millions of patients.
