The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its final 2009 update for Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) payments on October 30, 2008. CMS will publish its final rules in the November 18th Federal Register, and those rules

will become effective on January 1, 2009. A copy of these final rules can be obtained on the CMS web site. In this article, we look at some of the key changes to the OPPS regulations.