The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services late Friday issued a
final rule updating payment policies and rates for hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical centers in calendar year 2010. The final rule includes changes to the physician supervision of outpatient therapeutic and diagnostic services. Starting in 2010, certain non-physician practitioners may directly supervise hospital outpatient therapeutic services that they are able to personally perform within their state's scope of practice and hospital-granted privileges. Responding to AHA's comments, CMS further revised its definition of "direct supervision" to allow the supervising physician or non-physician practitioner (in the case of outpatient therapeutic services) to be located anywhere on the same campus as the hospital, as long as he or she is immediately available to furnish assistance and direction throughout the performance of the procedure. Among other provisions, payment rates under the outpatient prospective payment system will increase 2.1%, with hospitals projected to receive a total of $32.2 billion for outpatient services in 2010. CMS does not add any new quality measures for 2011 reporting purposes, but finalizes a data validation process for 2011. The AHA is reviewing the final rule and will provide details to members in an upcoming communication.
