Last week, WSHA sent the Chief Financial Officer and designated Finance contacts PPS hospital specific analyses of the Medicare Inpatient Prospect Payment System (IPPS) hospital FFY 2020 proposed payment rule. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the proposed rule May 3.
The proposed rule raises payment for the quartile of hospitals with lowest wage index by reducing wage index for the hospitals in the top quartile and applying a budget neutrality adjustment reduction to all PPS hospitals. Under the proposal, all 48 of Washington’s PPS hospitals would experience reduction in wage index payment. The overall results for all the proposed changes would provide hospitals in Washington State with an increase of 1.8 percent or an additional $40 million. Payment changes to individual hospitals would range from -$1 million to $4.2 million. Nationally, hospital inpatient rates would increase by 3.1 percent or an additional $3.7 billion.
WSHA plans to comment on the proposed rule and will provide draft language to affected hospitals that may wish to submit their own comments. Comments on the proposed rule are due to CMS by June 24. (Andrew Busz, andrewb@wsha.org)
