Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment to block a rule proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that would have reduced Medicare inpatient hospital reimbursements in FY 2008 by 2.4 percent. (Kaiser Network)
CMS apparently anticipates that hospitals will bill Medicare for services that reimburse at higher rates “in response to changes that would link payments with the severity of the illnesses of patients.” The proposed rule to reduce reimbursements would offset this expected behavior.
Republican Rep. Jerry Weller said CMS seeks to “punish the hospitals before they’ve done anything wrong.”
