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Announcement

Notice of Publication of the Proposed Rule for Calendar Year 2018
folder_openFinal/Proposed Rulescalendar_todayPosted July 20, 2017

The Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems and Quality Reporting Programs CY 2018 Proposed Rule has been published in the Federal Register today, July 20, 2017. The Proposed Rule is available here.

In this Proposed Rule, CMS proposes to delay implementation of the Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (OAS CAHPS) Survey Based Measures OP-37a-e/ASC-15a-e beginning with the CY 2020 payment determination (2018 data collection) until further action in future rulemaking. If approved in the Final Rule (to be published in November 2017), this means that OAS CAHPS would continue with the voluntary reporting throughout 2018.

In response to comments from facilities and stakeholders, CMS is proposing the delay to gain additional time to:

  • analyze the national implementation data and consider any necessary modifications to the survey tool and/or CMS systems and
  • review the regulatory burden for providers and investigate strategies to reduce the burden before making a determination of timing for future implementation.

The delay will allow additional time for participating facilities to identify a survey vendor and work through the initial implementation process before required participation begins.

The OPPS and ASC Rules are updated annually. The next update (CY 2019 Rule) will be proposed in July and finalized in November 2018. The CY 2019 Rule will reflect any planned changes that would impact the 2019 data collection period (CY 2021 payment determination).

CMS continues to believe that the OAS CAHPS Survey addresses an area of care that is not adequately addressed in the current measure set and will be useful to assess aspects of care where the patient is the best or only source of information. These measures will enable objective and meaningful comparisons between hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgery centers.

If you have questions, you can contact the OAS CAHPS Survey Coordination Team via e-mail at oascahps@rti.org or call 1-866-590-7468.