The AAMC, American Hospital Association (AHA), and several hospitals Jan. 13 filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that challenges the reductions to certain grandfathered off-campus hospital provider-based departments (off-campus PBDs) made by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the Final Outpatient Prospective Payment Rule for Calendar Year (CY) 2020.
The agency made the cuts to certain off-campus PBDs for CY 2020 after the AAMC and AHA successfully challenged a similar rule CMS issued for cuts in CY 2019, in which the U.S. District Court found that CMS lacked the authority to make the reductions [see Washington Highlights, Oct. 25, 2019]. As the current complaint states, the CY 2020 final rule is beyond CMS’ authority, just as was found for the CY 2019 rule. The complaint asks the court to declare the CY 2020 final rule as exceeding CMS’ authority and to issue a preliminary and permanent injunction barring CMS from enforcing the payment reductions and ordering CMS to immediately pay the amounts that had been wrongly withheld from hospitals.
- Washington Highlights