Patient Safety | 09.17.20
CMS Updates Graduate Medical Education Policy in FY 2021 IPPS Final Rule
by NAMSS Government Relations
On Sept. 2, 2020, CMS released its Inpatient Prospective Patient System (IPPS) final rule for 2021. Some of the key changes in the Final Rule apply to Graduate Medical Education (GME) policy.
Medicare statue restricts the number of resident trainees for which hospitals can receive Medicare reimbursement under the GME rules. These restrictions do not apply to hospitals that have “displaced resident” trainees, who were training at a hospital that closed before completion of their training program.
CMS expands its definition of “displaced residents” in the final rule to “residents who were training at the hospital or in the program on the day that the closure was publicly announced, or residents who had been accepted to train at the hospital or program but had not yet begun training by the day that the closure was publically announced.” This expanded definition allows more flexibility for residents to transfer while a hospital or residency program is slowing down operations.
In response to the growing hospital closure trend throughout the United States, NAMSS earlier this year developed the NAMSS Hospital Closure Toolkit. Hospital closures can happen quickly, leaving medical staff and residents little time to prepare. The NAMSS Hospital Closure Toolkit is a comprehensive resource that can assist MSPs in preparing, communicating, and executing protocol to preserve practitioner-credentialing data during hospital closures.
Visit CMS.gov for additional information on the annual IPPS final rule. To learn more about the toolkit, please visit the NAMSS advocacy resources page.