Court vacates parts of CMS Medicare Advantage marketing rule; TPMO data-consent rule survives
A Texas federal court vacated the CY2025 rule's fixed-fee cap and contract-terms restriction for agents and brokers, but upheld the requirement that TPMOs get prior express written, one-to-one consent before sharing a beneficiary's personal data with another TPMO.
General information, not legal advice. Confirm anything you act on with TCPA counsel.
What changed
In August 2025 a federal court in Texas vacated parts of CMS's CY2025 Medicare Advantage rule: the fixed-fee cap and the contract-terms restriction for agents and brokers. It upheld the requirement that a TPMO get prior express written consent, given one TPMO at a time, before sharing a beneficiary's personal data with another TPMO.
Medicare publishers and call centers that pass leads or data between TPMOs still need that consent. CMS guidance treats a live, real-time transfer of the call differently from a data hand-off.
What it means for pay-per-call teams
Medicare publishers and call centers still need per-TPMO written consent to pass beneficiary data; live real-time transfers are treated differently under CMS guidance.
Checklist
- Audit every place beneficiary data passes to another TPMO
- Collect TPMO-specific written consent where data is shared
- Keep TPMO disclaimers and full call recordings in place