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CMS Proposes Payment Increases, Policy Changes for 2009 Inpatient Services
April 17, 2008
Medicare inpatient hospital payments would increase some $4 billion in fiscal year 2009, which begins October 1, 2008, under a proposal released by CMS on April 14. The proposal would also implement a number of other policy changes affecting inpatient hospital care for Medicare patients during fiscal 2009. Among the highlights are the following:
- CMS proposes to add 43 new quality measures that it requires hospitals to measure and report on to receive the full reimbursement update for the year. New measures proposed for 2009 involve stroke, cardiac surgery, hip fracture, abdominal aortic aneurysms, and venous thromboembolism, among others.
 Click to view CMS fact sheet.
- CMS proposes to add an additional nine categories of conditions that, when acquired in the hospital, will no longer lead to higher Medicare payment. These include surgical site infections for certain elective procedures, hypoglycemic coma, collapsed lung due to medical care, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and certain infections. These would be added to the eight categories of conditions Medicare adopted in 2008, which included air embolism, certain falls and injuries, and catheter-associated urinary tract infections. Click to view CMS fact sheet.
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