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Review of Medicare Payments for Nonphysician Outpatient Services Provided Under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System

Under the Medicare Part A inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS), hospitals are paid a predetermined amount per discharge for inpatient hospital services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries, as long as the beneficiary has at least one benefit day at the time of admission. The prospective payment amount represents the total Medicare payment for the inpatient operating costs associated with a beneficiary's hospital stay. Inpatient operating costs include routine services, ancillary services (e.g., radiology and laboratory services), special care unit costs, malpractice insurance costs, and preadmission services. Accordingly, hospitals generally receive no additional payments for nonphysician outpatient services furnished shortly before and during inpatient stays. Medicare makes a duplicate payment if it makes a separate Part B payment to providers for such nonphysician outpatient services.

Prior Office of Inspector General reviews identified significant overpayments to hospital outpatient providers for nonphysician services furnished shortly before or during inpatient stays. Our recent work indicated that providers are still billing inappropriately and contractors continue to make inappropriate payments for these nonphysician outpatient services. Additionally, Medicare payment system controls are not preventing or detecting overpayments for incorrectly billed services. Our objective is to determine whether nationwide Medicare payments to hospital outpatient providers were correct for nonphysician outpatient services provided within 3 days prior to the date of admission, on the date of admission, or during IPPS stays (excluding date of discharge).

Announced or Revised Agency Title Component Report Number(s) Expected Issue Date (FY)
Completed Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Review of Medicare Payments for Nonphysician Outpatient Services Provided Under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System Office of Audit Services A-01-17-00508;
W-00-17-35799; 		2020