In a major win for hospitals, CMS is seeking to abandon a plan to require them to disclose certain negotiated rates it reaches with Medicare Advantage organizations in reports submitted to the federal government, per a proposal released Tuesday.
The agency is also proposing a hospital payment bump totaling $2.5 billion for fiscal year 2022 as well as implementation of a floor wage index provision from legislation passed earlier this year.
The proposed Inpatient Prospective Payment System also adds 1,000 graduate medical education slots over the next five years, with a priority given to those in rural areas and with underserved patient populations.
Below is Alston & Bird’s
Health Care Week in Review, which provides a synopsis of the latest news in healthcare regulations, notices, and guidance; federal legislation and congressional committee action; reports, studies, and analyses; and other health policy news.
Week in Review Highlight of the Week:
This week, CMS issued its proposed FY 2022 payment updates for inpatient psychiatric and rehabilitation facilities, hospice, and skilled nursing facilities. Read more about the updates and other news below.
I. Regulations, Notices & Guidance
On April 5, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued guidance entitled,
Development of Abbreviated New Drug Applications During the COVID-19 Pandemic Questions and Answers Guidance for Industry. FDA is issuing this guidance to provide general recommendations to prospective applicants and applicants of abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) related to generic drug product development and regulatory submissions in the form of
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February 8, 2021
Judge Randolph D. Moss of the District of Columbia District Court, in “the final chapter” of broader litigation involving more than a thousand hospitals, has upheld a previous decision that denied interest payments to a subset of the plaintiffs.
After a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulation imposed a 0.2% reduction in Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rates which are used to compensate hospitals under Medicare an array of hospitals across the country challenged the rule, eventually leading to the HHS secretary proposing a rule to remove the rate reduction and adopting a one-time 0.6% rate increase for fiscal year 2017.
Original story posted on: December 21, 2020
Comments are being sought now.
With two COVID-19 vaccines now being distributed nationwide and more on the way, in addition to what are sure to be forthcoming enhancements in treatment of the virus, federal officials have issued an interim final rule with comment period establishing add-on payments for such measures.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an MLN Connects Special Edition post about the New COVID-19 Treatments Add-on Payment (NCTAP) under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) on Monday, noting that the payments will remain in effect retroactively from Nov. 2, 2020 through the termination of the federally declared COVID public health emergency (PHE).
How CMS grants new technology add-on payments and determines substantial similarity
As New Technology Add-On Payments are approved by CMS, startups lay claim to code. The question is, does this code apply to everyone who wants it?
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New Technology Add-On Payments (NTAP) are a class of reimbursement that are meant to help pay for new technology that is not included in the diagnosis-related group (DRG) bundled payment.
Specifically, NTAP recognizes that current DRG payment rates can be a barrier to adopting new technology and represents an additional payment for hospital stays that use new technology determined by CMS to provide substantial clinical improvement and where the current DRG payment would be inadequate. NTAP applications are evaluated as part of the annual Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rulemaking process. If an NTAP is approved, it remains in effect for three years following approval, at the end of which it is assumed that the costs of the new tec