The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) final rule in December with a comment period. The American College of Radiology® (ACR®) is currently reviewing the rule that will implement legislative changes to Medicare direct graduate medical education and indirect medical education payments to teaching hospitals that were contained in the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2021. Following the review, the ACR will develop comments to submit to CMS.
CMS has committed to ensuring access to healthcare in underserved communities that have historically experienced workforce challenges. The act requires the distribution of an additional 1,000 new Medicare-funded medical residency positions to help train physicians, phased in at no more than 200 slots per year beginning in federal fiscal year 2023. CMS will prioritize hospitals with training programs in areas demonstrating the greatest need for providers as determined by Health Professional Shortage Areas. The first round of 200 residency slots will be announced by Jan. 31, 2023, and will become effective July 1, 2023.
CMS is implementing section 127 of the CAA, Promoting Rural Hospital GME Funding Opportunity, which allows rural teaching hospitals participating in an accredited rural training track (RTT) to receive increases to their full-time equivalent (FTE) caps. CMS is also implementing section 131 of the CAA, Medicare GME treatment of hospitals establishing new medical residency training programs after hosting medical resident rotators for short durations in the past. CMS estimates that this additional funding will total approximately $1.8 billion from FY 2023 through FY 2031.
If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Christina Berry, Team Lead Economic Policy or Kimberly Greck, Economic Policy Analyst.