Glaukos slips after Medicare proposes cuts to eye surgery reimbursements

** Shares of medtech firm Glaukos GKOS fall 4.5% to $99.50

** The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Monday proposed changes to the Medicare physician fee schedule for 2026, aiming to reduce wasteful spending, improve chronic disease management and modernize payment systems for healthcare providers

** J.P.Morgan analyst Allen Gong says the proposed cuts include "both cataract surgery and minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS)", which can negatively affect Glaukos’ traditional iStent and Inject products used in combination procedures by doctors

** Physician reimbursement for cataract surgery and combo-cataract MIGS procedures will be cut by ~10.5% if finalized, with other MIGS procedures seeing cuts of 7.3% to 9.2%, brokerage says

** The reimbursement cuts "add another complicating factor to MIGS usage at a time when core iStent and Inject utilization is already being disrupted by the transition away from multiple device usage" - Gong

** "We expect to see significant pushback from medical societies on the proposed changes," Gong says

** Including session moves, stock down 33.6% YTD