Medicare Program; Changes to the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Calendar Year 2005 Payment Rates

This final rule with comment period revises the Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system to implement applicable statutory requirements and changes arising from our continuing experience with this system and to implement certain related provisions of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003. In addition, the final rule with comment period describes final changes to the amounts and factors used to determine the payment rates for Medicare hospital outpatient services paid under the prospective payment system. These changes are applicable to services furnished on or after January 1, 2005. In this final rule with comment period, we are responding to public comments received on the January 6, 2004 interim final rule with comment period relating to MMA provisions that were effective January 1, 2004, and finalizing those policies. Further, we are responding to public comments received on the November 7, 2003 final rule with comment period pertaining to the ambulatory payment classification assignment of Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes identified in Addendum B of that rule with the new interim (NI) comment indicators (formerly referred to as condition codes).