On November 1, 2002, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published its final rule regarding Medicare's outpatient hospital prospective payment system. The rule, effective January 1, 2003, increases payment rates to hospital outpatient departments by 3.7 percent in 2003. Payments to rural hospitals will increase 6.2 percent in 2003, while payments to urban hospitals will increase 3.1 percent. The final rule did not include a pro-rata reduction in pass-through payments for new technologies such as drugs and medical devices, as CMS does not project that pass-through spending in 2003 will exceed the established payment cap. Other aspects of the final rule include a reduction in payment for many medical devices and device-related services, a lowering of both the outlier threshold and the outlier reimbursement rate, and an amendment to Medicare regulations that would permit partial and not complete suspension for failure of a hospital to comply with cost report filing requirements. The complete rule will be available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov.
To see this week's Health Briefs (a listing of Federal and Texas Register regulations affecting health care), visit our website at http://www.velaw.com/publications/healthcare/HB110102.pdf.
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