Earlier this week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule to update payment rates and policies under the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS). Once finalized, the new rule would affect renal dialysis services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries on or after January 1, 2023. CMS projects that the updates would increase the total payments to all ESRD facilities by 3.1% over payments for the calendar year 2022. For rural ESRD facilities, CMS projects an increase in total payments of 2.3 percent, and for urban facilities, CMS projects an increase in total payments of 3.2 percent. Comments due by August 27