CMS Tailors Drug Buffer Stock Idea To Small, Rural Hospitals

The Biden administration is revisiting the idea of offering Medicare add-on payments to incentivize hospitals to create buffer stocks of essential medicines to avert shortages, but it is tailoring the plan to small, independent hospitals in its calendar year 2025 inpatient payment proposal out Wednesday (April 10). CMS last year proposed applying the buffer stock plan to all hospitals but punted the idea after hospitals complained it could be administratively burdensome, especially for rural and safety-net hospitals. As part of...