HCFA delays outpatient PPS implementation
July 1, 2000 less than 1 minute read
HCFA delays outpatient PPS implementation
In a letter dated June 2, Nancy-Ann DeParle, administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), announced that HCFA is pushing back the controversial implementation date of its hospital outpatient department prospective payment system from July 1, 2000, to Aug. 1, 2000.
In the letter, sent to Rick Pollack, executive vice president of the Chicago-based American Hospital Association, DeParle acknowledged that HCFA’s own "informal surveys of the hospital community indicate that a significant number of hospitals may not be prepared to implement the PPS on July 1." DeParle also admitted in the letter that HCFA itself wasn’t entirely prepared, having already failed to meet "certain milestones — such as the delay of nine weeks from the original target date of April 1 to release the Claims Expansion and Line Item Processing, the expanded claim for necessary for the new system."
DeParle says HCFA will begin working with hospitals this month to inform Medicare beneficiaries that changes in Medicare payments for hospital outpatient department services could mean changes in the amount of coinsurance they will need to pay. Also this month, HCFA plans to host a "face-to-face town hall meeting" at HCFA’s headquarters in Baltimore.
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