Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 2022 Rates; Quality Programs and Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program Requirements for Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals; Changes to Medicaid Provider Enrollment; and Changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program

This final rule revises the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) for operating and capital-related costs of acute care hospitals to implement changes arising from our continuing experience with these systems for FY 2022 and to implement certain recent legislation. The final rule also updates the payment policies and the annual payment rates for the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for inpatient hospital services provided by long- term care hospitals (LTCHs) for FY 2022. It also finalizes a May 10, 2021 interim final rule with comment period regarding rural reclassification through the Medicare Geographic Classification Review Board (MGCRB). The final rule also implements changes and updates for the Medicare Promoting Interoperability, Hospital Value-Based Purchasing, Hospital Readmissions Reduction, Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting, Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction, the PPS-Exempt Cancer Hospital Reporting, and the Long-Term Care Hospital Quality Reporting programs. It also finalizes provisions that alleviate a longstanding problem related to claiming Medicare bad debt and provide a participation opportunity for eligible accountable care organizations (ACOs).