Inpatient PPS proposed rule drops two-midnight payment cuts

Editor's Note

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 18 issued its hospital inpatient prospective payment system (PPS) proposed rule for FY 2017 that includes two adjustments to reverse the effects of the 0.2% cut it instituted when implementing the two-midnight rule, AHA News Now reports.

Included are:

• a permanent adjustment of 0.2% to remove the cut for FY 2017 and onward
• a temporary adjustment of 0.6% to address the retroactive impact of the cut for FY 2014 to 2016.

CMS’s decision to drop the two-midnight cuts came after the American Hospital Association successfully challenged the rule in court.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services late today issued its hospital inpatient prospective payment system proposed rule for fiscal year 2017. The rule would increase rates by 0.85% in FY 2017 compared to FY 2016, after accounting for inflation and other adjustments required by law.