“Today, the Trump Administration proposed changes for acute care and long term care hospitals that build on the progress made over the last three years and further the agency’s priority to transform the healthcare delivery system through competition and innovation while providing patients with better value and results. The proposed rule would update Medicare payment policies for hospitals paid under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and the Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System (PPS) for fiscal year 2021.”
“’The Trump Administration has provided extensive flexibility to help hospitals meet the needs of their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CMS Hospital Without Walls initiative empowers local hospitals and healthcare systems to expand their physical spaces, telehealth capabilities and staff to care for people with Coronavirus,’ said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. ‘Today’s payment rate announcement focuses on what matters most to help hospitals conduct their business and receive stable and consistent payment.’”
“CMS is proposing a separate new hospital payment category for Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. CAR-T is the first-ever gene therapy, and uses a patient’s own genetically modified immune cells to treat people with certain types of cancer, instead of additional chemotherapy or other types of treatment paid for under the IPPS…”
“Today’s rule includes proposals to remove barriers to new antimicrobials, which are antibiotics to treat drug-resistant infections. Medicare beneficiaries account for the majority of new diagnoses and resulting deaths due to drug-resistant infections, which also remains a public health concern. To support access to these critical antibiotics for Medicare beneficiaries, CMS is proposing changes for the new technology add-on payment (NTAP) which is an additional payment to hospitals for cases using eligible high cost technologies…” Read the full press release here.
Source: CMS Builds on Commitment to Transform Healthcare Through Competition and Innovation – May 11, 2020. CMS.
