The Alliance of Safety-Net Hospitals has submitted formal comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in response to CMS’s proposed CY 2027 Medicare outpatient prospective payment system regulation.  That rule, when finalized, will govern how the federal government pays hospitals for Medicare-covered outpatient services next year.

In its letter, ASH addresses CMS’s proposed increase in Medicare outpatient payments; planned changes in reimbursement for prescription drugs under the 340B Drug Pricing Program; proposed changes in Medicare site-neutral payment policy; and the implementation of proposed changes in National Provider Identifiers.

ASH notes the importance of Medicare payments for community safety-net hospitals that serve especially large numbers of hard-working but lower-income Americans who have limited access to care.  Proposed changes in 340B reimbursement policy in particular, ASH notes, would deprive community safety-net hospitals of some of the resources they need to ensure their continued ability to meet their communities’ outpatient care needs.

CMS also should reconsider its approach to expanding the use of site-neutral payments in the Medicare program, ASH writes.  If this policy must be extended, ASH suggests, CMS should develop a definition of what constitutes a safety-net hospital and exempt such providers from the damaging impact of that policy.

Learn more about ASH’s views on CMS’s proposal for changing Medicare outpatient payment policy in 2027 from ASH’s formal comment letter to CMS.