Hospital Equipment Purchases Could Suffer Under Medicare Proposal
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Medicare payments for hospital capital purchases, such as for imaging equipment and other big-ticket items, could fall by $1 billion over the next five years under a CMS 1proposal, says the American Hospital Association
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Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., was critical of CMS' April proposal to reduce hospital inpatient payments by 2.4% during the next two fiscal years at a May 15 hearing. The cut is intended to preemptively offset the expected spending increases under a new system that would pay hospitals more for treating sicker patients. "A lot of fair questions can be asked about how CMS estimated the possible provider reaction in the inpatient hospital regulation and the magnitude of payment reductions caused by the adjustment," the chair of the House Ways & Means Subcommittee on Health said. The American Hospital Association and other groups are aggressively lobbying CMS to repeal the 2.4% adjustment - which AHA says cuts payments by $24 billion over five years - when it finalizes the inpatient rule in August (1"The Gray Sheet" May 7, 2007, p. 4). Overall payments would still increase by the 3.3% market basket, CMS says...