On November 2, 2018, CMS released an on-line display copy of its Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) Final Rule implementing payment changes effective January 1, 2019. The official Federal Issuance is expected on November 21, 2018. One anticipated set of changes in the Final Rule is related to off-campus outpatient hospital departments (OCODPs). Background Medicare…… Continue reading this entry
Hospitals with off-campus provider-based departments (PBDs) may want to rethink their end of summer vacation plans in order to focus on a recent slate of proposed regulations from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that seek to rein in Medicare reimbursement for outpatient hospital services – including at excepted/grandfathered off-campus locations. On July…… Continue reading this entry
Just what is reasonable compensation in the Medicare world is not a clearly defined, black and white concept. Instead, it is somewhat in the eye of the beholder, with the parties to each situation where that is an issue seeking to reach out for third party support for their conclusions. But sometimes when the government…… Continue reading this entry
On Tuesday, July 17, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ended a challenge brought by hospitals and hospital associations to the nearly 28 percent reimbursement cuts for 340B hospitals under the Medicare program. The payment cuts were finalized in the calendar year (CY) 2018 Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System…… Continue reading this entry
There are many health care financial arrangements where one entity has a financial obligation to another, with whom it either does business directly, or to which it makes referrals, and that obligation is either past due or for one reason or another cannot be paid. This may come up, for example, in the context of…… Continue reading this entry
Providers and suppliers who have been assessed overpayments for Medicare services are entitled, by statute, to a stay of recoupment while the provider or supplier’s appeal is pending – but only at the first two levels of administrative appeal. If both appeals are unfavorable to the provider or supplier, the next step is an appeal…… Continue reading this entry
CMS recently announced that it wants to launch a new demonstration program, the Medicare Advantage Qualifying Payment Arrangement Incentive (MAQI) Demonstration. If approved and adopted as a demonstration project, the MAQI Demonstration would waive Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) requirements for clinicians who participate sufficiently in qualifying risk programs of Medicare Advantage plans by making…… Continue reading this entry
Two recent cases illustrate the continuing challenges providers, and in particular hospital providers, face when seeking to collect their charges when dealing with “out-of-network” patients. First Example – A Claim for Services Under an ERISA Plan In the first, a not for publication decision of the 9th Circuit, Eden Surgical Center v. Cognizant Technology Solutions…… Continue reading this entry
On April 23, 2018, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation issued a Request for Information (the RFI) on a direct provider contracting model for primary care. The RFI seeks input on how direct provider contracting between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and physicians or physician group practices may be designed and…… Continue reading this entry
On April 2, 2018, CMS released the Contract Year 2019 Final Rules for Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D (the MA Final Rule), incorporating changes that support CMS’ stated commitment to supporting flexibility and efficiency throughout the MA and Part D Programs. The MA Final Rule incorporates broad changes to several aspects of the MA…… Continue reading this entry