In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), Congress mandated that payment adjustments should be applied to Medicare eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAH) that are not meaningful users of Certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) Technology under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. Payment adjustments for eligible hospitals began on October 1, 2014.
2016 Payment Adjustments for Medicare Eligible Hospitals
Eligible hospitals receive the Medicare payment adjustment amount that is tied to a specific fiscal year. For fiscal year 2016, Medicare eligible hospitals that were not meaningful EHR users in 2014, and were not granted a hardship exception, were subject to a payment adjustment beginning October 1, 2015. This payment adjustment is applied as a reduction to the applicable percentage increase to the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) payment rate, thus reducing the update to the IPPS standardized amount for these hospitals.
2016 Reconsiderations Application Due November 30
For eligible hospitals who received a Medicare payment adjustment letter for 2016, and believe their hospital was subject to a payment adjustment in error, applications for payment adjustment reconsideration for fiscal year 2016 must be submitted electronically or postmarked by 11:59 PM EST on November 30.
The instructions and application for a payment adjustment reconsideration are available on the Payment Adjustments & Hardship Information page of the CMS website.