Medicare programs; end-stage renal disease program; prospective reimbursement for dialysis services: Health Care...

These proposed regulations would change the reimbursement system by which Medicare pays for outpatient dialysis and related physician and laboratory services. These changes would establish a prospective method of payment for maintenance dialysis, whether furnished at home or in a hospital-based or independent dialysis facility, and would revise other aspects of the reimbursement system to encourage home dialysis and provide incentives for economy and efficiency in furnishing these services. The amendments would implement section 2145 of the Omnibus Budget Reconcilation Act of 1981. We expect that these proposed changes will improve our administration of the end-stage renal disease program and enable us to control the rapidly growing costs of furnishing dialysis.