Late Friday, April 26, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed rule for the hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) and long term care hospital (LTCH) PPS for fiscal year (FY) 2014 (which begins October 1, 2013).  A copy of the 1,424 page proposed rule is available here and is expected to be published in the Federal Register on May 10, 2013.  A CMS fact sheet on the proposed rule is availablehere.  Comments are due to CMS by 5:00 pm on June 25, 2013.

Under the proposed rule, in FY 2014, inpatient PPS rates would increase by 0.8 percent relative to FY 2013 rates.  FY 2014 LTCH payment rates would increase by 1.1 percent compared to FY 2013 payment rates.  The proposed rule also seeks to implement the document and coding offset provided under the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (more information on the legislation is available here) and seeks to implement the disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payment cuts provided under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

This proposed rule contains policies related to the hospital acquired condition reduction program, which was created under the ACA to begin in FY 2015, and provides financial incentives to hospitals to prevent hospital-acquired conditions.  The proposed rule also provides additional policies for the hospital readmissions reduction program, including the addition of two new readmissions measures.