AHA calls for improvements to FY 2027 payment updates for long-term care hospitals

The AHA provided comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services June 8 on its fiscal year 2027 proposed rule for the long-term care hospital prospective payment system. The AHA urged CMS to strengthen its proposed payment update by revisiting the market basket forecast and to work with Congress to reduce the productivity adjustment. CMS was also requested to finalize its proposed freeze to the high-cost outlier fixed-loss amount and make additional outlier policy changes to avoid disruptions to care, among other actions. The AHA will submit separate comments on the rule’s inpatient PPS and Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Expanded Model proposals.