CMS Releases Proposed Medicare Inpatient And Long-term Care Hospital PPS Payment And Policy Updates For FFY 2027

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the proposed federal fiscal year 2027 Medicare payment and policy update for the Hospital Inpatient and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment Systems. Although CMS published that comments are due no later than 4 p.m. April 10, comments will be due 60 days following publication within the Federal Register. The following is a summary of the proposals.

IPPS

• Market basket increase of 2.4% (3.2% less 0.8% productivity adjustment)
• CMS estimates a net IPPS payment increase of $1.4 billion
• Proposes that approved medical residency training programs must not discriminate, or promote or encourage discrimination, on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, age, disability or religion
• IPPS quality reporting program updates
• Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program updates
• Medicare mandatory pay-for-program updates
• Proposal to expand the current mandatory CJR model into a new mandatory model, known as CJR-X
• Most hospitals paid under the IPPS would be mandatory participants except hospitals participating in the Transforming Episode Accountability Model or those hospitals not paid under both the IPPS and Outpatient PPS

LTCH PPS

• Market basket increase of 2.4% (3.2% less 0.8% productivity adjustment)
• CMS estimates a net LTCH PPS payment increase of $55 million
• LTCH quality reporting program updates
• Seeking comments about the future measure concept – advance care planning

MHA published an issue brief with additional details.