CMS maintains site-neutral cuts in 2020 proposed rule

Editor's Note

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 29 issued the 2020 proposed payment rule for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs), which would increase Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system rates by 2.7%.

CMS is also proposing to add eight codes to the ASC-payable list, including total knee arthroplasty (TKA), which would remove TKA from the inpatient only list.

In addition, CMS is continuing to align the ASC update factor with the 2.7% used to update HOPD payments, which is a combination of a 3.2% inflation update based on the hospital market basket and a productivity reduction mandated by the Affordable Care Act of 0.5%.