Beyond the rate increase: Other important IPPS changes

Description

Abstract: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Inpatient Prospective Payment System final rule for the 2018 fiscal year addresses several areas of vital importance. These include hospital readmission penalties, changes to the measures for evaluating inpatient services payments, and easing aspects of the Electronic Health Record incentive program. This article explains that the 2018 rule also replaces the three pain management questions in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey with three new questions. A brief sidebar looks at revisions to the treatment of Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments.