CMS Publishes Final Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment Rule for 2008

On November 27, 2007, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the Final Rule (with comment period) in the Federal Register, which updates the Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) for calendar year 2008.  In conjunction with the OPPS Final Rule, CMS also:

• issues rate changes for the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) final rule for FY 2008, which resulted from the TMA, Abstinence Education and QI Programs Extension Act of 2007 (Act).  Specifically, the Act's provisions that reduced the documentation and coding adjustment from -1.2 percent to -0.6 percent for 2008.
• changes the IPPS final rule for FY 2008 by retroactively adopting a policy of not applying the documentation and coding adjustment to the FY 2008 hospital-specific rates for Medicare dependent, small rural hospitals and sole community hospitals.
• includes a new interim final rule (with comment period) that modifies regulations relating to graduate medical education payments made to teaching hospitals that have Medicare affiliation agreements for certain emergency situations.
• updates the payment rates and other pertinent rate information for the ambulatory surgical center payment system beginning in CY 2008.