The American Hospital Association has voiced concerns over the inpatient prospective payment system that is set to take effect for the new fiscal year, according to an AHA News Now report.
The AHA cited the Inpatient Quality Reporting program's handling of electronic quality measure data collection as well as the disproportionate share hospital and Hospital-acquired Condition Reduction Program proposals as its main points of contention.
These concerns follow a letter regarding audits it sent to CMS yesterday that asked the agency to halt the finalization of its proposed "time based presumption policy." It requested instead that CMS issue new instructions for CMS' recovery audit as well as other contractors that explain how to review the medical necessity of Medicare Part A inpatient hospital stays.
This "time based presumption policy," which would also take effect with the 2014 fiscal year, was part of May's Inpatient Proposed Payment Rule. It states that hospital inpatient admissions for which the patient in question requires more than one Medicare utilization day will be considered both reasonable and medically necessary.
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