Overview
On November 1, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
released the CY 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule and Interim Final
Rule.
This major final rule includes updates to payment policies and payment rates for
services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) on or after
January 1, 2019, as well as provisions related to the 2019 Quality Payment Program
(QPP). This final rule also addresses a subset of changes to the Medicare Shared
Savings Program for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) proposed in the August
2018 proposed rule “Medicare Shared Savings Program; Accountable Care
Organizations–Pathways to Success,” as well as certain other revisions designed to
update program policies under the Shared Savings Program.
The interim final rule implements amendments made by the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act to the Medicare telehealth provisions in
the Social Security Act and regarding permissible telehealth originating sites for purposes of treatment of a substance use disorder or a cooccurring mental health disorder for telehealth services furnished on or after July 1, 2019 to an individual with a substance use disorder diagnosis.
Hart Health Strategies, Inc. has prepared the below “side-by-side” comparison of the proposed and final provisions with the goal of helping
organizations better understand how CMS modified its proposals in response to stakeholder feedback. Page numbers and hyperlinks throughout
the summary refer to the display version of the final rule, which has been posted to our website. A table of contents is also provided to help you
more easily navigate the summary. To go directly to a specific section of the rule, please click on the page number listed in the table of contents.
Unless otherwise noted, these regulations are effective on January 1, 2019. CMS will accept comments on the interim final rule provisions through December 31, 2018.
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