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Medicare Announces 2008 Hospital Inpatient Rates in Final Hospital Inpatient Rule
August 1, 2007
Medicare’s final rule sets Medicare reimbursement levels for hospital inpatient services for Fiscal Year 2008, which begins October 1, 2007, and ends September 30, 2008. Under the rule, payments to all hospitals will increase by about 3.5 percent.
Among the highlights of this year’s rule:
- CMS is creating 745 new severity-adjusted diagnosis-related groups to replace the current 538 DRGs to account more fully for the severity of each patient’s condition, according to the agency. The new severity-adjusted DRGs will be phased-in over two years.
- CMS takes the first steps toward preventing Medicare from giving hospitals higher payment for the additional costs of treating a patient who acquires a condition, such as an infection, during a hospital stay. It does so by requiring hospitals to begin reporting secondary diagnoses that are present when a patient is admitted.
- CMS is requiring hospitals to report on new quality measures if they want to receive the full rate increase in fiscal year 2009.
- CMS is reducing payment when hospitals replace a device that is supplied to theml at no cost or reduced cost.
Click to read the following materials about the new rule:
 CMS Press release
CMS Fact Sheet on Quality
CMS Fact Sheet on Accuracy
Read complete final inpatient rule
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