Hospitals Threaten Lawsuit Over Site-Neutral Policy In Final Outpatient Rule

The hospital lobby is threatening to sue CMS over deep reimbursement cuts that will result from a site-neutral policy enshrined in the 2019 outpatient hospital final rule released Friday (Nov. 2). Hospitals also object to the rule’s expansion of payment cuts for drugs purchased through the 340B discount program. CMS says both policies will save money for Medicare beneficiaries. The rule establishes a new payment rate for hospital outpatient clinic visits that is equivalent to what those visits would be...