Inpatient hospitals will see a larger Medicare payment hike next fiscal year than first proposed, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Tuesday.
Acute care hospitals complying with quality reporting rules and electronic health record guidelines will get a 3.1% net increase in Medicare reimbursements in fiscal 2024 year under the hospital inpatient prospective payment system final rule. In April, CMS issued a proposed rule that would have boosted reimbursements 2.8%.
The final rule reflects a 3.3% market basket increase and a negative 0.2 percentage point productivity adjustment. Hospitals that don’t submit required quality data could see penalties up to one-quarter of their reimbursements.
CMS finalized a health equity adjustment that provides up to 10 bonus points to hospitals that serve higher proportions of patients who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid. The final rule also raises payments to hospitals that treat homeless patients by finalizing changes to the severity designation of three diagnosis codes.
“As part of CMS’ health equity goals, we are rewarding hospitals that deliver high-quality care to underserved populations and, for the first time, also recognizing the higher costs that hospitals incur when treating people experiencing homelessness,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a news release.
CMS also adopted new hospital quality measures to promote safety and quality and limit preventable harm in hospitals.
The agency added three electronic clinical quality measures to advance health equity to enable hospitals to better assess lower-stage pressure injuries for people with darker skin tones. CMS also updated a measure to report the number of employees who are up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations beginning with the fiscal 2025 payment determination for the hospital inpatient quality reporting program.
Rural emergency hospitals will also be able to serve as graduate medical education training sites under the final rule.
CMS also set a 0.2% reimbursement increase for long-term care hospitals. Long-term care hospitals will have to comply with the same COVID-19 vaccination reporting measures as inpatient hospitals and other providers.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
