Judge Denies CMS Bid to Preserve Site-Neutral Payment Cuts While Awaiting Appeal

U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer said in an opinion delivered Monday that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hasn’t given sufficient reason for a 60-day stay of her September ruling against the agency’s regulation on site-neutral payments. 

Collyer’s original ruling vacated the $380 million in cuts to off-campus providers that went into effect Jan. 1, 2019, as part of the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS). She called for CMS to determine how to repay hospitals to make up for the cuts and wanted a status report Oct. 1.

Getting rid of the site-neutral cuts merely have made such off-campus providers subject to the original final rule, she added.

Collyer also didn’t buy CMS’ request for a stay of her ruling pending the outcome of an appeal.

She said that a stay is granted usually when an applicant can show they have a strong chance of winning an appeal, will be irreparably harmed, have the public interest or the ruling will impact other parties.

Source: https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/hospitals-health-systems/judge-denies-cms-bid-to-preserve-site-neutral-payment-cuts-while-awaiting