Medicare Prospective Payment System

However, differences between the care provided to patients in the trial and that provided to patients in this group may be due as much to secular trends in the provision of medical care as they are to the adoption of a study protocol. For example, length of stay in the United States has decreased since the early 1980s, due in part to the implementation of the Medicare Prospective Payment System. Thus, historical cohorts from earlier periods may have had longer lengths of stay as inpatients than is currently seen in clinical practice. These data may suggest a protocol-induced decrease in length of stay when one actually does not exist. 

Prospective Payment Assessment Commission (ProPAC) a federal commission established under the Social Security Act amendments of 1983 to advise and assist Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services in maintaining and updating the Medicare prospective payment system. 

Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Office of the Inspector General. 2000a. Medicare program, prospective payment system for hospital outpatient services. Fed Reg 65 18433 available at www.gpoaccess. gov/fr/. 

Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services. Hospital outpatient prospective payment system. August 2000. http //cms.hhs.gov/regulations/hopps, accessed March 13, 2003. 

Medicare Hospital Outpatient Services Prospective Payment System (2001). Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed rules. Fed Regist 66 44671... 

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