WSHA comments on Medicare inpatient proposed rule

On June 17, WSHA submitted comments  to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the proposed inpatient hospital payment rule for 2023. WSHA provided a draft of its comments to hospital chief financial officers, government affairs staff, and rural administrators in advance of the June 17 comment deadline and encouraged interested hospitals to submit their own comments. WSHA commented that the proposed market basket of 3.2 percent does not reflect the persistently higher costs of providing care due to the lasting and durable impacts of high inflation, workforce shortages and the pandemic. WSHA asked CMS to reconsider its proposed reductions for productivity adjustments and disproportionate share hospital funding as costs are increasing more quickly than productivity gains and uninsured rates are expected to increase when the public health emergency ends. The inpatient rule, which will be effective October 1, 2022, will be finalized by CMS in the next few months. (Andrew Busz, AndrewB@wsha.org)