The American Hospital Association raised concerns over CMS' proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2018 in a recent letter sent to CMS Administrator Seema Verma.
The fee schedule includes a proposal to reduce the payment rate in half for services provided at offsite provider-based departments. The AHA has concerns about this potential change.
"Making such an adjustment in CY 2018 would be arbitrary and capricious, unreasonable and unsupported by existing data, and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act," wrote Tom Nickels, AHA's executive vice president.
The AHA also expressed concerns about the initial data CMS collected for the clinical lab fee schedule calling the data "inaccurate, incomplete and unable to be validated." Mr. Nickels said the erroneous data will result in inaccuracies.
However, the association does support CMS' proposal to add new codes to telehealth services and delay appropriate use criteria requirements.