New Medicare Payment Rules

In Brief On October 1 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will eliminate additional Medicare payments for eight preventable hospital-acquired conditions. The new payment rule, known as CMS–1533–FC, is part of a broad effort to refine Medicare's prospective-payment system and improve care quality, and it also gives nurses a tool with which to alter their economic relationship to hospitals. This article describes the new CMS rule, spells out its potential impact, and recommends how nurses can use the rule change to demonstrate their economic value to hospitals. Come October, Medicare will stop making additional payments for the treatment of eight preventable, hospital-acquired conditions. It's a chance for nurses to further demonstrate their economic value.