CMS Releases OPPS Final Rule

Physician supervision changes

CMS finalized two significant changes to the physician supervision requirements. Neither is a surprise, Shah says.

First, CMS agreed to a delay in the enforcement of physician supervision rules for critical access and small and rural hospitals that have 100 or fewer beds.

Second, CMS will use the Federal Advisory Panel on Ambulatory Payment Classification Groups (APC Panel) review supervision levels for outpatient services. Those reviews could begin as soon as the winter 2012 APC Panel meeting, Shah says. "I think we're going to see some new efforts on this front and everyone is going to want to pay attention to this."

Device construction for intensity modulated radiation therapy

Hospitals saw one significant loss as part of the OPPS final rule and it is really an operational lesson for facilities, Shah says.

The AMA in 2010 replaced CPT code 77334 (treatment devices, design and construction; complex [irregular blocks, special shields, compensators, wedges, molds or casts]) with code 77338 (multi-leaf collimator [MLC] device[s] for intensity modulated radiation therapy [IMRT], design and construction per IMRT plan).