CMS Announces Billing Changes for Certain Inpatient-Only Procedures – Effective April 1, 2015, CMS will allow payment for Inpatient-Only procedures provided in an outpatient setting on the date of the inpatient admission, or in the three calendar days preceding the inpatient admission that would otherwise be deemed related to the admission to be bundled into billing of the inpatient admission. To read the CMS Change Request, click here.

GAO Concludes Cancer Hospital Payment Methods Should Be Revised to Promote Efficiency – In a report released publicly on March 23, 2015, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concludes that the payment methodology for the nation’s eleven PPS-exempt cancer hospitals “lacks strong incentives for cost containment” and places the Medicare program at risk for overspending.  The report is available by clicking here.