CMS delays effective date of certain CJR program changes to March 21

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday delayed, in accordance with a recent White House memorandum, the effective date of certain technical changes to the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement program from Feb. 18 to March 21. The delay applies to certain modifications made to the program under a final rule issued in December, such as a policy that participating hospitals require physician and physician group practice collaborators to deliver a written notice to beneficiaries describing their participation in the CJR program. The delay does not apply to the final rule’s new model that bundles payment to acute care hospitals for heart attack and cardiac bypass surgery services, or its expansion of the CJR model to include surgical treatments for hip and femur fractures other than joint replacement. The effective date for those new and expanded models remains July 1. For more on the December final rule, see the recent AHA Regulatory Advisory for members.