The American Hospital Association (AHA) recently filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Joined by the Association of American Medical Colleges and several hospitals, the AHA sued the department for reducing Medicare fee-for-service outpatient payments for 2020 clinic visits provided in off-campus hospital outpatient departments that were grandfathered under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.
A federal judge recently ruled in favor of the AHA and the hospital groups, saying the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services exceeded its statutory authority when the agency reduced 2019 Medicare outpatient payments for the same services. In a subsequent decision on the 2020 payment reductions, the federal judge indicated that hospitals must file claims to demonstrate the effects of the 2020 final rule.ā
