CMS' 2017 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System is proposing a number of changes to reimbursement and quality reporting.
Here are five of the most important changes detailed in the proposed rule, according to a blog by Anesthesia Business Consultants:
• Services provided in a dedicated emergency department will continue to be paid under the OPPS
• CMS proposed updating the OPPS rates by 1.55 percent in 2017, and after taking all other proposed policy changes into consideration, OPPS payments would increase by 1.6 percent and ASC payments would increase by 1.2 percent
• CMS proposed removing the pain management dimension of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey of the Value-Based Purchasing Program in fiscal year 2018
• CMS proposed a 90-day electronic health reporting period in 2016 for all eligible professionals and hospitals
• CMS proposed adding seven measures to the Outpatient Hospital Quality Reporting Program for the 2020 payment determination and the following years
CMS is accepting comments on the proposed rule. However, neither the American Hospital Association nor America's Essential Hospitals, a trade group, appear satisfied with the proposed rule.