Southwest Consulting Associates Blog

Earlier this week, CMS posted a notice on its website granting a 31-day extension to IPPS hospitals in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to submit FFY 2014 and FFY 2015 Worksheet S-10's.  This comes on the heels of Hurricane Harvey, Irma and Maria, the President declaring a state of emergency and the HHS Secretary declaring a public health emergency for Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Both the President and HHS Secretary's actions allow CMS to put in place programmatic waivers based on Section 1135 of the Social Security Act.

The 2018 IPPS Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on August 14, 2017. The finalized changes will go into effect October 1, 2017. The Federal Register version can be viewed HERE (Medicare DSH begins on page 38189).  Below is SCA’s brief, yet comprehensive summary on the Medicare DSH/Uncompensated Care payment portion of the final rule as it will affect DSH hospitals.

The 2018 IPPS Final Rule was put on display for public inspection on August 2, 2017 and is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Monday, August 14, 2017.  The pre-publication version can be viewed HERE (Medicare DSH begins on page 771).  SCA will be reviewing and analyzing the details of the final rule and its components and we will provide more detailed conclusions soon.

On June 7, 2017, the Provider Reimbursement Review Board (PRRB) issued Alert 12 via email notifying Providers of a change of address for the CMS Office of Hearings, which handles the appeals for the PRRB.  The Alert was just recently posted to the CMS website and can be read in full HERE.  As of June 19, 2017, any correspondence sent to the PRRB should be sent to:

On July 7, 2017, CMS posted the FFY 2015 SSI ratios to their website.  The FFY 2015 SSI ratios should be used for computing the Disproportionate Share Hospital payment for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2014, and before October 1, 2015.  The FFY 2015 SSI ratio file (DSH Adjustment and 2014-2015 File [ZIP, 266KB]) can be found in the Downloads section of CMS' Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) webpage or by following the link below:

The next 340B quarterly registration period is once again upon us.  The 340B registration window begins on July 1st and will conclude on July 16th.  The traditional 340B enrollment period is usually the 1st through the 15th.  However, in the past, when both the beginning and ending dates fall on a weekend, the window has been extended to include the Monday following the 15th. Eligible entities must register in the 340B Office of Pharmacy Affairs Information System (OPAIS). More information can be found on the Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) website.

The FY 2018 IPPS proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on April 28, 2017. All comments to the rule were to be submitted to CMS by Tuesday, June 13, 2017. Like in past years, Southwest Consulting Associates (SCA) performed extensive analysis of the proposed rule and submitted comments in response to CMS’ FY 2018 IPPS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). SCA’s comments primarily related to the proposed changes in the payment adjustment for Medicare Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH) including the Uncompensated Care (UC) payment component.

The 2018 IPPS Proposed Rule was published in the Federal Register on April 28, 2017. If finalized, these changes will go into effect October 1, 2017. The published version can be viewed HERE. Public comments will be accepted until 5 p.m. EDT on June 13, 2017.  Below is SCA’s brief, yet comprehensive summary on the Medicare DSH/Uncompensated Care payment portion of the proposed rule as it will affect DSH hospitals.

The next 340B quarterly registration period is once again upon us.  The 340B registration window will begin on April 1st and conclude on April 17th.  The traditional 340B enrollment period is usually the 1st through the 15th, however, during this particular window, both the beginning and ending dates fall on a Saturday.  Therefore, the window has been extended to include Monday, April 17th according to the Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA).

We know...we know...your inbox is flooded with Happy Thanksgiving emails. But we couldn't resist especially because we had so much fun making our Thanksgiving-themed #mannequin challenge...Today, we give thanks for many reasons: our employees, blog readers and our clients.  We celebrate you, your friends & families and because we are based in Dallas, most of us will be celebrating our Dallas Cowboys (we hope)! 

Each year, Southwest Consulting Associates takes time to celebrate the holiday season as a ‘family‘ by hosting a Thanksgiving Luncheon for its employees.  In conjunction with the luncheon, SCA employees collect and donate necessities to a local charity.  This year, SCA chose to partner with Minnie's Food Pantry of Plano, TX.

Minnie's Food Pantry provides food assistance to children and families in need in our community. Hunger is a growing epidemic and it continues to affect hundreds on a daily basis. Minnie’s Food Pantry provides numerous programs to meet the needs of every person who walks through their doors.  Minnie’s Food Pantry was founded by Dr. Cheryl “Action” Jackson to honor her mother,  the late Minnie Hawthorne-Ewing D.D. and is 100% people and community funded. Every dollar donated provides three meals!