AHA, other groups: It’s wrong to tell hospitals they ‘are to’ complete drug acquisition cost survey
Several health care groups, including the AHA, Jan. 12 told the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services it is wrong to tell hospitals and health systems they “are to” complete the agency’s Outpatient Prospective Payment System Drug Acquisition Cost Survey and urged CMS to correct an FAQ issued on the matter.
“We respectfully ask that you correct the FAQ,” the groups wrote to CMS. “If federal law does not impose any specific consequences on hospitals for not completing the survey, it is confusing to suggest that hospitals ‘are to’ complete it.”
CMS recently finalized a new drug acquisition cost survey for all hospitals paid under the OPPS for separately payable drugs. The results of the survey would be compiled and used to set payment rates for separately payable drugs in the calendar year 2027 rulemaking. In the final rule, the agency explicitly stated: “We agree that section 1833(t)(14)(D) of the Act does not itself mandate specific consequences … on hospitals for failing to respond to that survey.”
Given that statement, the groups’ letter stated: “Absent any statutory consequences for not completing the survey, it is wrong to tell hospitals and health systems that they ‘are to’ complete it.”
“[O]ur members have serious concerns about the burdens imposed by the drug acquisition cost survey. Those burdens alone are reasons for hospitals to choose not to complete a non-mandatory survey,” the letter continues. “[W]e struggle to understand why the FAQ does not simply repeat what the agency previously stated in the final rule, i.e., individual hospitals face no “consequences … for failing to respond to that survey.”
In addition to the AHA, the Jan. 12 letter is signed by America’s Essential Hospitals, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Association of American Medical Colleges, Catholic Health Association, Children’s Hospital Association, National Rural Health Association, and 340B Health.