INNOVATION, Trends
This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its proposed rates for hospital inpatient procedure reimbursement rates (DRGs). Analysts see the proposed rates averaging at a 2.8% increase compared to 2021, which is consistent with rate increases from prior years. This should be a supporting tailwind for industry growth.
CMS has a program for encouraging innovation called the new technology add-on payment (NTAP). In its proposal, CMS decided to continue the NTAP for over a dozen products from medical device companies such as Stryker (SpineJack for vertebral compression fractures) and Boston Scientific (Exalt-D, a gastro-intestinal scope).
In formulating the newly proposed reimbursement levels, CMS projected a significant drop-off in COVID related hospitalizations and normalized its growth assumptions by using FY2019 utilization data as a base year.
CMS stated: “The continuing rapid increase in vaccinations coupled with the effectiveness of the vaccines leads us to believe that there will be significantly lower risk of COVID-19 infection and fewer hospitalizations for COVID-19 in FY22 than occurred in FY20”.
Posted: April 30, 2021
