Manatt’s Anne O’Hagen Karl, a partner in Manatt Health, spoke with Bloomberg Law on a June 3 Supreme Court ruling on Medicare payment rate changes made by the Department of Health and Human Services (DSH).
The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that found the Health and Human Services Department improperly changed Medicare payment rates without notice, according to Bloomberg Law. The agency had argued that it was “overburdened … by rules requiring it to follow notice-and-comment procedures before implementing changes to a Medicare payment calculation used to reimburse hospitals for uncompensated care.”
Karl said the Supreme Court ruling now means “hospitals will now feel some degree of certainty around how Medicare payments are put into place,” knowing “that HHS must go through notice-and-comment rulemaking.”
She added that the ruling also gives hospitals the opportunity to weigh in on potential changes and provides “so much more transparency than there had been previously.”