BIO Submits Comments Re: Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems (IPPS) Proposed Rule
August 8, 2017
RE: Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Proposed Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 2018 Rates; Quality Reporting Requirements for Specific Providers; Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program Requirements for Eligible Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, and Eligible Professionals; Provider-Based Status of Indian Health Service and Tribal Facilities and Organizations; Costs Reporting and Provider Requirements; Agreement Termination Notices (CMS-1677-P)
Dear Administrator Verma:
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS’s) Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System Proposed Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 2018 Rates Proposed Rule (the "Proposed Rule"),1 including with respect to CMS’s Request for Information on policy proposals to better achieve transparency, flexibility, simplification, and innovation in the Medicare program.
BIO is the world's largest trade association representing biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO’s members develop medical products and technologies to treat patients afflicted with serious diseases, to delay the onset of these diseases, or to prevent them in the first place. In that way, our members’ novel therapeutics, vaccines, and diagnostics not only have improved health outcomes, but also have reduced healthcare expenditures due to fewer physician office visits, hospitalizations, and surgical interventions. BIO membership includes biologics and vaccine manufacturers and developers who have worked closely with stakeholders across the spectrum, including the public health and advocacy communities, to support policies that help ensure access to innovative and life-saving medicines and vaccines for all individuals.
BIO supports the development and use of appropriate, evidence-based quality measures throughout the healthcare system as a component of improving efficiency and clinical outcomes; additionally, we support policy proposals driven at increasing access to innovative care. Our comments, as you will see in the balance of this letter, are divided into two sections – the first focusing on the proposals contained in the FY 2018 Proposed Rule, and the second for providing feedback on the Request for Information.
Download Full Comments Below
BIO Final Comment Letter FY 2018 IPPS Proposed Rule 13 June 2017
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RE: Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Proposed Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 2018 Rates; Quality Reporting Requirements for Specific Providers; Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program Requirements for Eligible Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, and Eligible Professionals; Provider-Based Status of Indian Health Service and Tribal Facilities and Organizations; Costs Reporting and Provider Requirements; Agreement Termination Notices (CMS-1677-P)
Dear Administrator Verma:
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS’s) Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System Proposed Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 2018 Rates Proposed Rule (the "Proposed Rule"),1 including with respect to CMS’s Request for Information on policy proposals to better achieve transparency, flexibility, simplification, and innovation in the Medicare program.
BIO is the world's largest trade association representing biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO’s members develop medical products and technologies to treat patients afflicted with serious diseases, to delay the onset of these diseases, or to prevent them in the first place. In that way, our members’ novel therapeutics, vaccines, and diagnostics not only have improved health outcomes, but also have reduced healthcare expenditures due to fewer physician office visits, hospitalizations, and surgical interventions. BIO membership includes biologics and vaccine manufacturers and developers who have worked closely with stakeholders across the spectrum, including the public health and advocacy communities, to support policies that help ensure access to innovative and life-saving medicines and vaccines for all individuals.
BIO supports the development and use of appropriate, evidence-based quality measures throughout the healthcare system as a component of improving efficiency and clinical outcomes; additionally, we support policy proposals driven at increasing access to innovative care. Our comments, as you will see in the balance of this letter, are divided into two sections – the first focusing on the proposals contained in the FY 2018 Proposed Rule, and the second for providing feedback on the Request for Information.