The 2012 Mississippi legislative session was closely watched as Gov. Phil Bryant and Lt.
In accordance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the Secretary of Health and Human Services issued a report to Congress on April 11, 2012, addressing a plan to reform the Medicare wage index methodology.
Washington engaged in an annual ritual on February 13. The president sent his proposed budget for fiscal year 2013 to Capitol Hill, where it promptly was declared dead on arrival. While this declaration is true, it also is entirely beside the point.
The final rule for changes to the hospital inpatient acute care prospective payment system (PPS) for federal fiscal year 2012 was released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in early August. This release included two changes related to the amount of defined benefit pension costs a hospital is allowed to claim on its Medicare cost report. One of the changes relates to calculating allowable pension costs claimed on a PPS hospital’s wage index.
On July 29, 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its final rule for federal fiscal year 2012 to update payment rates under the prospective payment system (PPS) for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). The following are highlights of the final rule