ACS Responds to FY 2024 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule

On June 9, the ACS submitted a comment letter in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) fiscal year (FY) 2024 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems (IPPS) proposed rule.

The College addressed CMS’s proposals to reassign Medicare Severity Diagnosis-Related Groups—which are used to classify the severity of a given clinical case for the purposes of hospital payment under the IPPS—for appendicitis and complications of arteriovenous fistulas and shunts.

The ACS also encouraged CMS to assign operating room (OR) status for certain percutaneous endoscopic thoracoscopic/laparoscopic procedures and drainage of subcutaneous tissue and fascia procedures, as these operations typically require the resources of an OR to be safely and appropriately furnished.

In addition, the ACS provided support for the potential future inclusion of two Geriatrics measures in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting program. The ACS, in collaboration with the American College of Emergency Physicians and Institute for Healthcare Improvement, developed and submitted these measures to CMS last year. In response to the feedback from the 2022 National Quality Forum Measures Application Partnership review of these measures, the ACS combined the two geriatric measures discussed in the proposed rule into one measure, a new Age-Friendly Hospital measure, to decrease reporting burden.

In its comments, the College shared details about the strategy behind developing the measures and the ACS’ perspective on ways CMS can transform their quality reporting and value-based care programs. The ACS also supported proposals to create a Health Equity Adjustment Bonus in the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program and supported efforts to incentivize the delivery of high-quality care for vulnerable populations.