On Nov. 2, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2024 Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System final rule. The 2024 OPPS final rule sets a 3.1% increase in OPPS payment rates to hospitals and ASCs that meet relevant quality reporting requirements. CMS also adopted neurosurgery-supported provisions, including:
- Adding new codes for vertebral body tethering (CPT codes 22836, 22837 and 22838) and inserting skull-mounted cranial neurostimulator pulse generator or receiver (CPT code 61889) to the inpatient-only (IPO) list;
- Refraining from adding codes to the current list of service categories subject to prior authorization; and
- Rejecting measures under the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program and the ASC Quality Reporting Program that evaluate facility volume on outpatient and ASC surgical procedures (the AANS and the CNS had expressed concerns about volume being an appropriate quality indicator).
Additional information is available:
- OPPS/ASC Press Release
- OPPS/ASC Fact Sheet
- Fact Sheet on Price Transparency Provisions
