In a recent issue of the Report on Medicare Compliance, Senior Manager Kathy Reep and Consulting Principal Martie Ross are featured contributors on hospital price transparency. The national publication is produced by the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) to provide updates on compliance strategies specifically pertaining to Medicare.
The article, “More Price Transparency Requirements Take Effect July 1 and After; CMS Posts MRF Validator,” which was written by Nina Youngstrom, features Reep and Ross’s expertise about stringent new requirements and enforcement measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
The new requirements focus on the revised format for machine-readable files (MRF) as finalized in the CY 2024 Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System rule issued Nov. 22, 2023.
“I urge you to find out whether your facility is compliant today,” says Reep in the article, which includes Reep and Ross’s comments during a recent related PYA webinar. She suggests hospitals ensure their MRFs are accurate, complete, and follow the requirements outlined in CMS’s Price Transparency Data Dictionary GitHub Repository. Reep also advises that hospitals immediately ensure the words, “price transparency,” are placed in the footers of their websites and linked to their MRFs.
Beginning July 1, hospitals also must complete an attestation regarding the accuracy of charges, payer information, and other data posted in the MRF.
Among the other topics discussed in the article is CMS enforcement. Ross and Reep describe the more stringent enforcement measures for transparency violations and the increase in monetary penalties, which could be more than $2 million.
Read the full article about price transparency that ran on April 29, 2024, on HCCA’s online platform, COSMOS, or
Learn more!
Check out the PYA on-demand webinar presented by Ross and Reep, “Hospital Price Transparency: Are You Ready for July 1?,” for detailed information about the upcoming CMS requirements.
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