The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently reversed a district court ruling and upheld the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services site-neutrality payment cuts for off-campus outpatient hospital clinic visits....more
On December 16, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that its 2019 decision invalidating the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) site-neutral payment cuts does not automatically vacate...more
CMS’ 340B Rate Cut Continues to Dampen Hospital Outpatient Expansion Efforts - Hospitals hoping to benefit from favorable 340B drug pricing when acquiring independent physician practices for conversion to hospital...more
Despite a court ruling against its site-neutral policy in September 2019, in the Calendar Year (CY) 2020 Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) final rule, released on November 1, 2019, the Centers for Medicare...more
Late last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released the CY 2020 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (“OPPS”) final rule [CMS-1717-FC]. While many hospitals had hoped for relief from recent...more
In its Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) proposed rule, released July 29, 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) proposes to finalize a two-year phase-in of site-neutral payment cuts for...more
On January 18, 2019, a group of nearly 40 hospitals filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia challenging CMS’s rate cut to evaluation and management (E/M) services furnished by excepted...more
CMS took another step in its campaign to impose "site neutrality" on hospital outpatient payments with its recently published final Medicare hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) rule for CY 2019. The final...more
On July 25, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released proposed policy and payment updates affecting the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and the Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC)...more
In some states, including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, “site neutrality” for outpatient hospital reimbursement is factoring into state-specific health reform and cost containment initiatives. This potentially goes...more
In a proposed rule published in the Federal Register on July 21, 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) moved to cut payments for most services provided by off-campus locations of hospitals by 50 percent. ...more
The 21st Century Cures Act (the “Cures Act”) (Pub. L. No. 114-255), which was signed into law by President Obama on December 13, 2016, includes a number of important health care provisions, and several address the...more
Since our last 340B Drug Pricing Program (340B Program) update, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued two regulations, the final Medicaid managed care regulation and a proposed update to the...more