Several of the proposed policy changes would improve the quality of care Medicare patients receive by better supporting their physicians and other health care providers. These proposals are based on feedback from stakeholders, including beneficiary and patient advocates, as well as health care providers, including hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and the physician community.
This proposed rule would address physicians’ and other health care providers’ concerns that patient survey questions about pain management in the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program unduly influence prescribing practices.
CMS is proposing policies to implement section 603 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which provides that certain items and services provided by certain hospital off-campus outpatient departments would no longer be paid under the OPPS. Currently, Medicare pays for the same services at a higher rate if those services are provided in a hospital outpatient department, rather than a physician’s office.
Earlier this year, CMS conducted a review of the Medicare EHR Incentive Program for clinicians as part of our implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), with the aim of reconsidering the program so we move closer to achieving the full potential health information technology (IT) offers. Based on that review, CMS streamlined EHR reporting requirements under the proposed rule to implement certain provisions of MACRA to increase flexibility and support improved patient outcomes.
CMS proposes taking a similar step for hospitals and critical access hospitals participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. These changes include a proposal for clinicians, hospitals, and critical access hospitals to use a 90-day EHR reporting period in 2016 – down from a full calendar year for returning participants.
Finally, CMS proposes to add new quality measures to the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program and the Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting Program that are focused on improving patient outcomes and experience of care. Other changes in the proposed rule would enhance the outcome requirements for organ transplant programs, so that the programs may help more beneficiaries accept more grafts, while maintaining compliance with Medicare standards for patient and graft survival.
CMS estimates that the updates in the proposed rule would increase OPPS payments by 1.6 percent and ASC payments by 1.2 percent in 2017.
Read this Proposed Rule in the Federal Register for July 14, 2016
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