The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 6 released a proposed rule for the 2017 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System, covering payments for outpatient services.
"[This proposed rule is] designed to improve care and value when Medicare beneficiaries receive care in an outpatient setting," said Andy Slavitt, acting CMS administrator, in a statement released by CMS. "[These] proposed updates better support physicians in providing beneficiaries with the right care at the right time."
In the document, CMS estimates a 1.6% payment increase in 2017 for hospitals paid under the OPPS, which translates to an estimated total payment amount of $63 billion, up $5.1 billion compared to 2016. Payments under the ASC system will increase by 1.2% for those ASCs that meet quality reporting requirements under the Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting (ASCQR) program, which translates to an estimated total payment amount of $4.4 billion, up $214 million compared to 2016, CMS wrote.
The proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register on July 14. CMS is accepting comments on it until September 6.
