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CMS finalizes rules projected to save $800M, 4 million burden hours annually

CMS administrator Seema Verna, MPH, announced final rules today that will save health care providers approximately $800 million and 4 million burden hours annually.

“By 2026, one in every five dollars spent on our economy will be spent on health care,” Verna said in a conference call with reporters, adding that increased health care costs negatively impact governments, communities, businesses and individuals.

The final rules save money ... "and eliminate many of the regulatory requirements that stand like a brick wall between patients and their doctors and do nothing to advance patients’ safety or health,” she said.

The final rules aim to:

• reduce emergency preparedness requirements across health care settings except for long-term care facilities;
• decrease the occurrence of policy reviews and program evaluations that rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers are required to conduct from once a year to once every 2 years;
• streamline regulations to allow multiple hospitals within a system to employ a unified Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement program; and
• reduce Medicare regulations for transplant centers.

The final rules are based on 102 listening sessions in 46 states and two territories, with representatives from a broad spectrum of medical professions, according to CMS. They will be published on Monday, Sept. 30. Most of the rules will then take effect 60 days later, Verna said. – by Janel Miller

For more information:

CMS. Medicare and Medicaid Programs: Regulatory provisions to promote program efficiency, transparency, and burden reduction; Fire safety requirements for certain dialysis facilities; Hospital and critical access hospital changes to promote innovation, flexibility, and improvement in patient care. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/09/30/2019-20736/medicare-andmedicaid-programs-regulatory-provisions-to-promote-program-efficiency-transparency-and. Accessed Sept. 26, 2019.

Disclosures : Verna reports no relevant financial disclosures.