CMS finalized its proposals regarding the 2-midnight rule, including moving responsibility for rule enforcement and education from Recovery Auditors to Quality Improvement Organizations (QIO). This latter change occurred October 1, 2015.
Providers often struggle with modifiers‑even those they've had available to report for many years‑due to the unique scenarios they face at their facilities, staffing changes, and/or unclear or lacking authoritative guidance.
The 2016 OPPS final rule includes the first negative payment update for the system, but CMS also listened to commenters' suggestions to make a variety of proposals less onerous either operationally or financially.
CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) released final rules October 6 with the intention of simplifying EHR requirements and allowing providers and consumers to exchange health information with greater flexibility. This includes the final rule with comment period for the EHR incentive programs and final rule for the 2015 edition health IT certification criteria.
