Short-term acute care hospitals once again have access to the Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER), which they can use to improve claim accuracy.
CMS is preparing to conduct the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) Drug Acquisition Cost Survey (ODACS) to collect specific acquisition costs for outpatient drugs and biologicals purchased by hospitals paid under the OPPS.
You’ll have to wait a while longer for National Correct Coding Initiative edits for 2026-effective codes. However, the latest quarterly NCCI update will include new medically unlikely edits for a variety of HCPCS codes that went into effect in July and October 2025.
