CMS proposes to ease burdens on providers.
When it comes to the ever-changing Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) agency rules and regulations, one can’t help but be reminded of the classic tune by The Byrds: “to everything (turn, turn, turn), there is a season (turn, turn, turn).”
The last several decades have been fraught with increasing documentation requirements. Yet recently we saw the CMS proposal to eliminate documentation requirements for providers in office evaluation and management (E&M) documentation, as the agency continues its proposal trend with the latest rendering of less being more.
On Sept. 17, CMS sent out a proposed rule under the catchy title “CMS Proposes to Lift Unnecessary Regulations and Ease Burden on Providers.” According to CMS, this new proposed rule will save $1.12 billion per year, cut “red tape,” and reduce “burdensome regulations,” as requested of the agency by Donald Trump, the 45th and current President. This proposal may be found online at https://downloads.cms.gov/files/MedicareBurdenReductionfinal.pdf
According to CMS, “this proposed rule would increase the ability of healthcare professionals to devote resources to improving patient care by eliminating or reducing requirements that impede quality patient care or that divert resources away from furnishing high-quality patient care.”
The proposal includes three categories: 1) Proposals that simplify and streamline processes; 2) proposals that reduce the frequency of activities and revise timelines; and 3) proposals that are obsolete, duplicative, or that contain unnecessary requirements.
The proposals that may impact providers can be found in 1) Proposals that simplify and streamline processes:
There are many other proposals that are part of this document that address Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), community mental health, and hospice, as well as transplant programs and home health.
If you are one of the lucky ones who has been in this business as long as I have, the saying “what goes around, comes around” can be appropriately applied to healthcare here.
To read the proposal in its entirety, go online to the Federal Register: https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2018-19599.pdf
Comments may be submitted electronically through e-Regulation website here: https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Regulations-and-Policies/eRulemaking/index.html?redirect=/eRulemaking.
Healthcare has been transitioning toward a more digital, interconnected ecosystem for many years, but the pace and magnitude of current changes represent a fundamental shift.
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