CardioSource WorldNews December 2015 | Page 51

BUSINESS CONSULT JOHN BRY Manager, ECG Management Consultants KEVIN KENNEDY Principal, ECG Management Consultants John Bry and Kevin Kennedy provide consulting services on behalf of ECG Management Consultants. Their views are their own. Reimbursement issues will also be a hot topic at ACC's CV Summit in Las Vegas in February. Learn more at ACC.org. Does the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 Spell the End of Reimbursement Differential Based on Site of Service? T he highly publicized Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 does more than just raise the nation’s debt ceiling. It also presents significant changes in Medicare reimbursement. More specifically, new, off-campus hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) will not receive reimbursement under Medicare’s Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS). Now, this can get a little confusing, so bear with us. Effective January 1, 2017, practices acquired by a hospital to operate as an off-campus HOPD (after enactment on November 2, 2015) will be reimbursed under the Ambulatory Surgical Center Pr