Section 127.154. Medical fee updates on and after January 1, 1995—inpatient acute care providers subject to DRGs plus add-on payments

(a) On and after January 1, 1995, inpatient acute care providers, whose payments under the act are based on DRGs plus add-ons under § § 127.110—127.116 shall be paid as follows: the amount of payment authorized and based on the DRG shall be frozen on December 31, 1994, and updated annually by the percentage change in the Statewide average weekly wage.

(b) The DRG grouper in effect for Medicare DRG payments as of December 31, 1994, shall remain in effect and be frozen for purposes of determining payments under the act. Additions, deletions or modifications to the ICD-9 codes used to determine the DRG shall be mapped to the appropriate DRG within the frozen grouper.

(c) The relative values of DRGs in effect on December 31, 1994, shall be frozen for purposes of calculating payments under the act. The introduction of modified or new DRGs, on and after January 1, 1995, may not be utilized for purposes of calculating payments under the act.

(d) On and after January 1, 1995, add-on payments based on capital-related costs as set forth in § 127.112 (relating to inpatient acute care providers—capital-related costs) shall be frozen at the rates in effect on December 31, 1994, and updated annually by the percentage change in the Statewide average weekly wage.

(e) On and after January 1, 1995, add-on payments based on medical education costs as set forth in § 127.113 (relating to inpatient acute care providers—medical education costs) shall be frozen based on the calculations made using the Medicare cost report and Medicare interim rate notification in effect on December 31, 1994. These frozen rates shall be applied to the updated DRG rates in subsection (a).

(1) Hospitals which lose the right to receive add-on payments based on medical education costs under the Medicare Program on and after January 1, 1995, shall also lose their right to receive these payments under the act as set forth in § 127.113. Commencing with services rendered on or after January 1 of the year succeeding the change in status, the add-on payment that has been computed and included in the Medicare fee cap as frozen on December 31, 1994, shall be eliminated from the calculation of the reimbursement.

(2) Hospitals which gain the right to receive add-on payments based on medical education costs under the Medicare Program on and after January 1, 1995, shall receive payments based on the rates calculated in § 127.113(c). These payments shall be frozen immediately, and thereafter shall be applied to the updated DRG rates in subsection (a).

(f) On and after January 1, 1995, add-on payments based on cost outliers as set forth in § 127.114 (relating to inpatient acute care providers—outliers) shall continue to float with changes made pursuant to the Medicare Program, using the most recently audited cost reports to calculate the additional payment. These payments may not receive fee updates based on changes in the Statewide average weekly wage.

(g) On and after January 1, 1995, add-on payments based on day outliers as set forth in § 127.114 shall be frozen based on the arithmetic and geometric mean length of stay in effect for discharges on December 31, 1994. These frozen rates shall be applied to the updated DRG rates in subsection (a).

(h) On and after January 1, 1995, add-on payments based on the designation under the Medicare Program as a disproportionate share hospital, shall be frozen based on the designation and calculation in effect on December 31, 1994. These frozen rates shall be applied to the updated DRG rates in subsection (a).

(i) On and after January 1, 1995, payments based on designations under the Medicare Program as a Medicare-dependent small rural hospital, sole-community hospital and Medicare-geographically reclassified hospital shall be frozen based on the designations and calculations in effect on December 31, 1994. These rates shall be updated annually by the percentage change in the Statewide average weekly wage.

Notation

Cross References

This section cited in 34 Pa. Code § 127.101 (relating to medical fee caps—Medicare).