Becker's Hospital Review

14 CFO / FINANCE Fat Joe presses hospitals to post prices in ad campaign By Alia Paavola F at Joe, a rapper known for songs such as "Lean Back" and "What's Luv?" pressed hospitals to post prices in an ad that launched April 19 across the U.S. The campaign, from advocacy group Power to the Patients, is aimed at getting hospitals to comply with CMS price transparency rules. He also calls for lawmakers to enforce the price transparency law. "When we can't see or compare prices, hospitals charge us whatever they want. They're robbing us," Fat Joe says in the ad. "It's not even legal, but nobody's enforcing that law. We love our nurses. We need our doctors. But the big business behind them is breaking our backs. So to all you politicians letting them crush us: You're breaking my heart." The advertisement refers to a CMS rule, which took effect in January 2021, that aims to make hospital pricing infor- mation readily available to patients to compare costs and make more informed decisions. Under the rule, hospitals in the U.S. are required to post both a machine-readable file with the negotiated rates for all items and services and display the prices of 300 shoppable services in a consum- er-friendly format. Despite the rule taking effect last year, a survey of 1,000 hos- pitals released in February found just 14.3 percent of hospi- tals were compliant with the federal price transparency rule. The study was conducted by patientrightsadvocate.org. The ad that features Fat Joe cost six figures, according to Politico, though Power to the Patients did not disclose the exact amount. "Hospitals are obligated to show us their prices. And we demand them. Power to the patients," the ad concludes. n CMS pitches inpatient payment rule for 2023: 10 things to know By Alia Paavola C MS released its annual Inpatient Pro- spective Payment System proposed rule April 18, which proposes a re- imbursement boost for acute care hospitals. Here are 10 things to know about the 1,786- page proposed rule: 1. Payment rate update. Under the proposed rule, acute care hospitals that report quality data and are meaningful users of EHRs will see a net 3.2 percent increase in payments in fiscal year 2023, compared to 2022. CMS said the rate adjustment will mean hospitals see an increase of about $1.6 billion in fiscal 2023. 2. Payment adjustment for domestically sourced supplies. CMS is considering add- ing a payment adjustment for hospitals that source their N95 respirators from domes- tic manufacturers. "CMS recognizes that hospitals may incur additional costs when purchasing wholly domestically produced … N95 respirators and is seeking comment on the appropriateness of payment adjust- ments under the IPPS and OPPS that would account for any such additional costs," CMS said in a news release announcing the rule. 3. Disproportionate share hospital pay- ments. CMS is proposing to distribute about $6.5 billion in uncompensated care payments in fiscal 2023. is represents a decrease of about $654 million from fiscal 2022. 4. Hospital inpatient quality-reporting program. CMS proposed several changes to the Inpatient Quality Reporting Pro- gram, which reduces payment to hospitals that fail to meet program requirements. CMS is seeking to add 10 new measures, including one that assesses a hospital's commitment to equity, one on opioid-re- lated adverse events and one that captures screening of social determinants of health. CMS also proposed requiring a Medicare spending per beneficiary measure begin- ning in fiscal 2024. 5. Hospital readmissions reduction pro- gram. CMS is proposing to resume the mea- sure that tracks and penalizes hospitals for 30-day readmissions aer pneumonia hospi- talization beginning in fiscal 2024. e mea- sure was suppressed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 6. New hospital designation. e CMS in- patient payment rule officially unveils the proposal to create a new designation to iden- tify "birthing-friendly hospitals." CMS is ask- ing providers for feedback on what to call the new designation. 7. Reporting COVID-19 and flu. e CMS rule proposed requiring hospitals to contin- ue reporting COVID-19 and flu data until April 30, 2024. 8. Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Groups. CMS proposed adding zero new MS-DRGs, keeping the number of MS-DRGs at 767 for fiscal year 2023. 9. Request for feedback. CMS is seeking provider feedback on how to adjust pay- ments for domestically produced N95 masks, how CMS can help hospitals address climate change, what measures CMS should consid- er to advance health equity, and revisions to digital quality measures, among other items. 10. Comment period. CMS will accept comments on the proposed rule through June 17. n

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