AAHKS Comments on CMS Proposed Rules

This week, AAHKS submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) proposed rules. Our PFS comment letter requests that CMS provide technical assistance to Congress to waive budget neutrality adjustments for the Physician Fee Schedule Conversion Factor, or otherwise prevent the 3.34% cut in physician payments for hip and knee replacement proposed for 2024; expresses support for adjusting the timeframe and the fracture exclusions to improve the accuracy of THA quality measure; and expresses concern for the CMS proposal to not cover Remote Physiologic Monitoring (RPM) or Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) in the global period, among other issues. For more, read the PFS letter. The OPPS comment letter expresses concern for increased payment rates to facilities for arthroplasty while surgeons face continued cuts and a lack of inflationary payment adjustments. The letter also supports a proposal to adopt a PRO-PM for TJA hospital outpatient quality reporting. Read the OPPS letter here. Finally, AAHKS also joined nearly 30 organizations in signing a letter to CMS regarding coverage for fracture liaison services, led by the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation (BHOF) and the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR). Read that letter here.