Budget Deal Includes Site-Neutral Offset That Hospitals Oppose And Oncologists Back

The budget and debt-limit deal reached Monday night would cut Medicare spending by instituting a new policy under which CMS would no longer pay higher hospital-outpatient rates when hospitals buy physician practices and ambulatory surgical centers. Hospitals oppose the measure, but primary physicians and independent cancer centers support it. A previous story on Inside Health Policy incorrectly stated that the budget deal would likely include Rep. Kevin Brady’s (R-TX) hospital payment bill (H.R. 3291). The site-neutral hospital policy that made...