Complete Story
11/03/2015
Medicare’s 2016 Final Rule Released
17 Procedures Added to ASC Approved List
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its final 2016 ASC payment rule, Friday, October 30, 2015. In 2016, ASCs will receive a 0.3 percent payment increase. The adjustment is based on a projected rate of inflation of 0.8 percent minus a 0.5 percentage point productivity adjustment required by the Affordable Care Act. Unfortunately, this payment update is significantly lower than the 1.1 percent update in the proposed rule, which was based on a higher inflation rate of 1.7 percent minus a 0.6 percentage point productivity adjustment.
CMS added the following seventeen codes to the ASC-payable list:
- 0171T (Lumbar spine proces distrac)
- 0172T (0172T (Lumbar spine process add)
- 37241 (Vasc embolize/occlude venous)
- 37242 (Vasc embolize/occlude artery)
- 37243 (Vasc embolize/occlude organ)
- 49406 (Image cath fluid peri/retro)
- 57120 (Closure of vagina)
- 57310 (Repair urethrovaginal lesion)
- 58260 (Vaginal hysterectomy)
- 58262 (Vag hyst including t/o)
- 58543 (Lsh uterus above 250)
- 58544 (Lsh uterus above 250)
- 58553 (Laparo-vag hyst complex)
- 58554 (Laparo-vag hyst w/t/o compl)
- 58573 (Tlh w/t/o uterus over 250)
- 63046 (Remove spine lamina 1 thr)
- 63055 (Decompress spinal cord thc)
CMS did not add any new measures to the ASC Quality Reporting Program for 2016. Additionally, CMS did not finalize its proposal to align the reporting deadline for all web-based measures in the ASC Quality Reporting Program for 2016. The deadline for the four measures submitted via QualityNet (ASC-6,ASC-7, ASC-9 and ASC-10) will remain August 15 in 2016. ASCs will be required to report on ASC-8 via NHSN by May 15, 2016.
