A recent analysis from the Actual Research Corporation examines various options for expanding site neutral payments at off-campus hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs). Findings include:
“• Only 19% of Medicare off-campus HOPD spending is subject to existing outpatient payment system site neutrality policies.
• Medicare and beneficiaries typically pay 2-4X more for a service in an off-campus HOPD than if they had received the identical service in an independent physician office.
• Expanding site neutrality policies to all off-campus HOPDs would save Medicare and beneficiaries $32 billion over ten years.
• Off-campus HOPDs are less common in rurally based hospitals, and site neutrality proposals do not impact facilities specifically targeting underserved populations such as critical access hospitals.”
To read the full brief from ARC, click here.