^®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

CMS Proposes More Affordable Care Act Rules
On August 3, 2010, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services intends to publish in the Federal Register proposed new rules that would revise the Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system to implement certain provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Affordable Care Act). The proposed rules

• describe proposed changes to the amounts and factors used to determine the payment rates for Medicare hospital outpatient services paid under the prospective payment system (applicable to services furnished on or after January 1, 2011);


• update the revised Medicare ambulatory surgical center payment system to implement certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act (applicable to services furnished on or after January 1, 2011); and


• include proposals to implement provisions of the Affordable Care Act relating to payments to hospitals for direct graduate medical education and indirect medical education costs; and new limitations on certain physician referrals to hospitals in which they have an ownership or investment interest.