Here are five updates from CMS in the last two weeks:
1. Houston-based United Memorial Medical Center is a step closer to regaining its Medicare contract after CMS terminated it in January.
2. CMS proposed 1,495 changes to the ICD-10-CM diagnostic code set in its proposed Inpatient Prospective Payment System rule. A large portion of the proposed changes focus on brain illness and injuries, mostly dementia-related diagnoses, and endometriosis.
3. CMS released a health equity strategy to be used throughout the agency and is encouraging healthcare leaders to get involved in creating sustainable, equitable strategies.
4. The CMS proposed payment increase of 3.2 percent, or $1.6 billion, for fiscal year 2023, is inadequate due to inflation and labor and supply costs, according to Stacey Hughes, executive vice president of the American Hospital Association.
5. Arbitrators will need to consider more than an insurer's median in-network rates for billed items when deciding surprise-billing disputes, CMS said in updated guidance.