In December 2016, the American Academy of Family Physicians sent a letter to CMS with suggestions on its Medicare's 2017 hospital outpatient prospective payment system and ASC payment system final rule.
Here are four things to know:
1. The AAFP supports certain measures such as more flexibility for providers participating in the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive programs and forgoing the pain management questions from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey.
2. AAFP Board Chair Wanda Filer, MD, signed the letter to CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt, which said the AAFP backs CMS' work to align policies for those physicians in independent practices with those working in practices that hospitals have acquired.
3. The group said CMS should pay the same amount for the same services across settings such as an ASC, inpatient, outpatient or physician's offices. The group has maintained physician offices are the most cost-effective option.
4. The AAFP said the government should pay off-campus provider-based departments for their non-excepted items and services based on Medicare physician fee schedule rates to ensure equal payment rates.