Medicare Hip/Knee Bundles Proposed Rule

On July 9th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule (which can be found here) to establish the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CCJR) Model to test mandatory retrospective bundled Medicare payments for hip and knee replacements, referred to as lower extremity joint replacements (LEJRs). CMS proposes to begin this five-year mandatory model in 2016. CMS will accept comments on the proposed rule until September 8th. A detailed summary and fact sheet are available here.

Hospitals participating in Models 1 or Phase II of Models 2 or 4 of Bundled Payments for Care Improvement for LEJRs would be exempt from the new mandatory program.     

Attached please find a summary of this proposed rule.