Last week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published a proposal detailing how it envisions paying for Medicare services in FY 2019 under its inpatient prospective payment system.

Yesterday this space featured a summary of the proposed changes in inpatient rates, Medicare disproportionate share payments (Medicare DSH) and how they would be calculated, and proposed changes in the Medicare area wage index system.

Today we look at proposed changes in regulations governing multi-campus hospitals, Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record incentive programs, and the hospital readmissions reduction program.

Recognizing Multi-Campus Hospitals

Recognizing the considerable consolidation taking place in the hospital industry, CMS proposes several new regulations outlining how multi-campus hospitals can demonstrate that they satisfy the criteria for being a Rural Referral Center or a Sole-Community Hospital.  In general, the proposed regulations attempt to treat the hospitals as a single entity but address specific circumstances unique to multi-campus hospitals that currently are either ambiguous or wholly unaddressed in existing regulations.  CMS notes that these new regulations would constitute a change in the conditions under which an application would approved for existing multi-campus hospitals already deemed as meeting Rural Referral Center or Sole-Community Hospital criteria and that these hospitals have a responsibility to notify CMS if they no longer qualify for such status.

Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs

CMS proposes overhauling its Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) incentive programs, frequently referred to as “meaningful use,” to make them more flexible and less burdensome; to emphasize measures that require the exchange of health information between providers and patients; and to give providers incentives to make it easier for patients to obtain their medical records electronically.  In the proposed rule, CMS calls for changes in the EHR incentive program to promote greater interoperability and to make the EHR incentive program more flexible and less burdensome by placing a strong emphasis on measures that require the exchange of health information between providers and patients.

With this in mind, CMS has renamed its meaningful use program “Promoting Interoperability.”  As part of this updated program, it requires providers to use the 2015 edition of certified electronic health record technology in 2019 to demonstrate meaningful use, qualify for incentive payments, and avoid reductions of Medicare payments.  CMS also proposes eliminating 25 total reporting measures across the five programs.  See the CMS fact sheet for specific information.

Promoting Interoperability Request for Information

In the proposed rule, CMS includes a request for information to obtain feedback from stakeholders on solutions to better achieve interoperability or the sharing of health care data between providers.  Specifically, it requests feedback on the possibility of revising conditions of participation related to interoperability as a way to increase electronic sharing of data by hospitals.

Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program

The 21^st Century Cures Act requires that CMS begin assessing hospital readmission performance by comparing hospitals’ performance to that of similar hospitals, with “similar” to be based on the proportion of dual-eligible Medicare-Medicaid patients they serve.  As proposed last year, CMS will assign eligible hospitals into five equal-sized peer groups based on their proportion of dual-eligible patients.  This is the first year this approach will be employed.  The measures to be used in the program will remain the same.

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Tomorrow we will look at the Medicare value-based purchasing program, the hospital inpatient quality reporting program, electronic clinical quality measures, and price transparency.

You also can learn more by reviewing the entire proposed 1883-page rule here or reading the CMS fact sheet here.