On August 28, 2105, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a notice asking for nominations to the Advisory Panel on Hospital Outpatient Payment (HOP. Of special interest to rural facilities, one of the tasks of the Panel is to review and advise on requests to change supervision levels for hospital outpatient therapeutic services. Rural hospital leaders are encouraged to apply for this opportunity in order to ensure that this group includes expertise that takes into account the unique perspective of smaller and geographically isolated low-volume hospitals. Nominees must be employed full time by a hospital, healthsystem, or Critical Access Hospital (CAH), and have technical expertise on the Panel’s topic areas. The HOP Panel may be asked to provide input to CMS on a range of policies impacting the Outpatient Prospective Payment System so rural providers paid under PPS should consider participating on the panel. Nominations are due Tuesday, October 27 and should be emailed to APCPanel@cms.hhs.gov.
