RAND and RTI Reports on Refinements to the IPPS Relative Weights

In the FY2009 IPPS Proposed Rule, issued on April 14, 2008, we stated that we had contracted with RAND to evaluate how the relative weights would change if we were to adopt regression-based CCRs to address charge compression while simultaneously adopting an HSRV methodology using fully phased-in MS-DRGs. Because RAND's analysis was not complete in time for the IPPS proposed rule, we were not able to include a discussion of the report. However, we indicated that we would post the link to the RAND report on our website and we would welcome public comment on the report. Also in the FY2009 IPPS Proposed Rule, we stated that RTI had been contracted to further analyze charge compression including a reassessment of the regression-based CCR models using both outpatient and inpatient charge data. However, during the development of the IPPS proposed rule, RTI's findings were not available. The IPPS-related chapters of this report are now available, and we have posted the link to the RTI report for public comment. The links to the RAND and RTI reports are available below. Comments on these reports will be accepted for 60 days through June 19, 2008. CMS will respond to comments in a final rule to be issued on or before August 1, 2008.