About Laws & Regulations
Navigating the vast network of health care laws and regulations is difficult. To help hospitals, CHA produces manuals and guidebooks, including the Consent Manual, a one-stop resource for all legal requirements related to patient consent for medical treatment, release of medical information, reporting requirements and more; the Model Medical Staff Bylaws and Rules, which outline the framework for working relationships among medical staff, hospital administrators and governing bodies; and the California Hospital Compliance Manual, which covers high-risk compliance issues. CHA also represents California hospitals’ interests in court on issues, including reimbursement, labor and employment, and more.
Prepare to Display New Hospital Price Transparency Data in CMS Templates
What’s Happening: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released resources on the newly finalized price transparency machine readable file (MRF) requirements.
What Else to Know: Hospitals have until July 1, 2024, to comply.
Summary: Details of Final Outpatient Payment Rule
What’s Happening: A comprehensive summary of the finalized payment updates and policy changes to the Medicare outpatient prospective payment system for calendar year 2024 is available.
What Else to Know: The provisions are generally effective Jan. 1, 2024.
Updated Guide on Final Rule Implementation Now Available
What’s happening: A members-only guide from the American Hospital Association to support hospitals in the implementation of the Medicare Advantage (MA) final rule is now available for calendar year 2024.
What else to know: The document provides a summary of key provisions of the final rule, which seeks to align MA coverage with traditional Medicare more clearly and to increase oversight of MA plans.
Return Hospital Engagement Letters for Area Wage Index Litigation by Dec. 8
What’s happening: Dec. 8 is the deadline for hospitals to sign up for a CHA-supported legal challenge to Medicare’s low-wage index policy.
What else to know: An updated analysis increases the estimated impact of these policies on California hospitals from $26 million to $33 million in federal fiscal year (FFY) 2024.
CMS Finalizes Policies for 2024 Medicare Advantage and Part D Programs
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized changes to Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D programs for contract year 2024. The final rule is effective June 5.