The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) proposed a new formula last week that would modestly increase Medicare payments to hospitals in 2016. Though long-term care hospitals would see a larger increase initially, they would actually experience a net reduction in reimbursement. The proposal includes an initial market basket update of 2.7 percent for inpatient facilities. But after cuts for market productivity, additional market basket cuts and a cut tied to the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, the overall payment would only increase by 1.1 percent, significantly lower than the 3.2 percent increase that the American Hospital Association (AHA) called for. The CMS proposal also includes a provision to launch a site-neutral payment system for long-term care facilities in October, which the AHA opposes. Read the full article at FierceHealthFinance