Consumers First and Partners Comment on CMS 2021 Hospital Outpatient Payment Rule

Consumers First, an alliance that brings together the interests of consumers, children, working people, employers, and primary care to realign and improve the fundamental economic incentives and design of the health care system, and partners submitted a comment letter to the federal government on the Hospital Outpatient Payment System proposed rule for Calendar Year 2021. This rule makes changes for how hospitals are reimbursed for outpatient services through the Medicare program.
The comment letter recommends that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:

• Make the health care system collect and report information about the ways in which they are failing people of color.
• Stop the games that health care industry plays that increase the cost of health care by implementing payment parity across care settings.