On November 13, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is publishing its final rule updating the Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and the Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System rates and policies for calendar year (CY) 2016. CMS estimates that total federal expenditures under the OPPS will drop by $133 million in CY 2016 compared to CY 2015 due to the changes in the final rule, while overall ASC payments are expected to increase by approximately $128 million in 2016. The OPPS update for 2016 is -0.3%, driven in large part by CMS’s correction of a $1 billion error it made when estimating “packaged payment” for clinical laboratory tests under a policy implemented in 2014. Specifically, the -0.3% update reflects a 2.4% market basket increase, which is partially offset by a -0.5% multifactor productivity (MFP) reduction and an additional 0.2% reduction (both mandated by the Affordable Care Act), further reduced by a 2.0 percentage points to recoup the prior $1 billion overestimation of laboratory test packaging. Hospitals that fail to meet the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) Program reporting requirements are subject to an additional 2% reduction. The actual update for individual procedures can vary dramatically, however, based on reconfiguration of ambulatory payment classifications (APCs) and other policies in the rule. Other highlights of the final rule include the following:
Continue Reading CY 2016 Medicare OPPS Spending to Drop by 0.4% under Final OPPS Rule; ASC Payments Get Small Boost
comprehensive APCs
CMS Issues Proposed CY 2015 Medicare OPPS/ASC Rule
By Debra A. McCurdy on
On July 14, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its proposed rule to update the Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and the Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System rates and policies for calendar year (CY) 2015. The following are highlights of this major rulemaking:Continue Reading CMS Issues Proposed CY 2015 Medicare OPPS/ASC Rule