Medicare In Brief

2007 IPPS payments finalized: Final hospital inpatient payment rates released by CMS Sept. 29 are slightly different than the tentative rates announced in the inpatient rule Aug. 1, due to the incorporation of revised provider data. Final DRG weights vary by no more than 0.8% from the Aug. 1 figures, CMS says (1"The Gray Sheet" Aug. 7, 2006, p. 3). The standardized amounts are approximately $4 lower than the Aug. 1 tentative amounts, while the final outlier threshold of $24,485 is $10 higher. An April 3 order from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals required CMS to collect new data to recalculate the adjustment factor used to determine individual hospital payments...