Hospital outpatient departments will see a 1.9% increase in their Medicare payments under a
proposed CMS rule that will set payment rates for outpatient services and ambulatory surgical centers in 2010.
The agency estimates that more than 4,000 hospitals and other facilities will get paid a total of $31.5 billion next year under the outpatient prospective payment system, an increase from projected payments of $28.7 billion in 2009.
Under this rule, hospitals for the first time would be able to bill Medicare for pulmonary and intensive cardiac rehabilitation services in outpatient departments starting next year. The CMS is also proposing to pay rural hospitals for providing kidney disease education services in their outpatient departments for Medicare beneficiaries with Stage IV chronic kidney disease.
Although it is not proposing to adopt any new quality measures through 2011, CMS is seeking public comment on additional quality measures that may be considered in future updates. The agency does plan to phase in a new validation requirement to ensure that hospitals are accurately reporting measures for chart-abstracted data.
The proposed rule also includes policy changes and payment rates for services in ambulatory surgical centers or ASCs, continuing an expansion of surgical procedures Medicare would cover when performed in ASCs. Total payments to ASCs are estimated to be $3.4 billion in 2010.
The CMS plans to accept comments on the proposed rule until Aug. 31, and issue a final rule on Nov. 1.
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