The Primary Care First Model , an alternative payment model offering an innovative payment structure for the delivery of advanced primary care, welcomed the involvement of Cohort 2 participants on Jan. 1 . This cohort, which was open to all primary care practices that met the eligibility criteria, will participate from 2022 to 2026. Participants in PCF Cohorts 1 and 2 can expect the following benefits: an opportunity to increase revenue with performance-based payments that reward participants for reducing acute hospital utilization; the ability to assess and improve performance through actionable, timely data; less administrative burden so providers can spend more time focusing on patient needs; and potential to become a Qualifying APM Participant , which includes eligibility for a 5% incentive payment and eliminates Merit-based Incentive Payment System reporting requirements. To ensure that new and prior participants succeed in this model, DataGen has compiled and answered some of t...

The 340B Drug Pricing Program allows qualifying hospitals to offer affordable prescription drugs to financially vulnerable and fragile patients by purchasing outpatient drugs from manufacturers at a discounted rate. These hospitals then can reinvest the savings in their services. In 2018, CMS issued a final Outpatient Prospective Payment System rule that reduced by approximately 25% the reimbursement for certain drugs that hospitals acquired through the 340B Program and then continued those cuts in 2019 through 2022. HHS' 340B cuts are currently being challenged through a lawsuit with the U.S. Supreme Court.  This analysis includes the continued 3.19% budget-neutral adjustment and the 340B reduction (Average Sales Price minus 22.5%) that was identified in the Standard Analytic File with the “JG” modifier, resulting in a net impact. DataGen has analyzed the budget neutrality adjustment and 340B cuts utilizing the 2019 Standard Analytic File showing the potential impact to 340B hosp...

Commonly asked questions about the Medicare Radiation Oncology Model billing guidelines What are the billing guidelines for the Radiation Oncology Model? RO Model participants must submit claims under the existing Medicare claims system according to the RO Model billing instructions described in the CMS final rule . In addition, RO participants must submit “no-pay” claims for all radiation therapy services furnished in the episode. What are the approved cancer types? The RO Model covers 15 cancer types. These cancer types are commonly treated with radiation therapy under nationally recognized, evidence-based guidelines and are associated with ICD-10 codes that have demonstrated pricing stability. What are the approved modalities of treatment? Modalities covered under the RO Model include three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy, proton beam therapy and image-guided radiation ...

Check your participation status and build your plan Are you a hospital outpatient department, physician group practice or freestanding clinic providing radiation therapy services? If so, you may be required to adopt the new mandatory Radiation Oncology Model. Mandatory participation is randomized by Core-based Statistical Areas. You can check your organization’s participation status online. CMS released the Final Rule for the RO Model, giving providers 60 days to prepare for program launch on January 1, 2022. If your organization performs radiation therapy in a ZIP code on the list, you will need to begin preparing for the model.

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Key takeaways from five final and two proposed rules from CMS CMS adopted five final Medicare Prospective Payment System rules for FFY 2022 and proposed two rules for calendar year 2022. DataGen has interpreted and analyzed each of the final and proposed rules to help you gauge how these changes may impact your organization.   These rules include regular updates to the wage index and other significant items listed below. The Inpatient PPS final rule includes the following proposals: rebasing and revising the IPPS marketbasket and the Capital Input Price Index from FFY 2014 cost report data to FFY 2018 data; rate increase (+0.5%) for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 coding offset adjustment; nonstandard adjustments to hospital wage indexes (for eligible hospitals) including bottom quartile adjustments, a 5% wage index “stop-loss” and the reintroduction of an imputed floor policy as mandated by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021; updates to Medicare...

The new Radiation Oncology alternative payment model will start Jan. 1, 2022, after the proposal is finalized in the calendar year 2022 Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System final rule, scheduled for early November. This rule will require prospective hospital outpatient departments, physician practices and freestanding clinics providing radiation therapy services to adopt a prospective bundled payment model with new clinical and quality measure reporting requirements. The model is mandatory for participants selected by CMS. The new RO model includes several notable changes that must be addressed for successful participation: Disease sites update The criteria for cancer types have been clarified. Cancer types must be: commonly treated with radiation therapy according to nationally recognized evidence-based guidelines; associated with ICD-10 codes that demonstrate pricing stability; and not determined to be unsuitable for inclusion by the H...