CMS Issues Interim Final Rule on GME Resident Cap Reductions - March 15, 2011

On March 14, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an interim final rule with comment period on Graduate Medical Education (GME) resident cap reductions. Specifically, the rule implements provisions of the Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 (Extenders Act), so that CMS will calculate Medicare GME resident cap reductions at affiliated institutes in the aggregate, rather than for each individual institution within the group. This measure will allow teaching hospitals that are part of an affiliated group to keep GME residency slots that they otherwise would have lost without the Extenders Act amendment. Comments on the interim final rule are due by April 13, and the rule will go into effect on July 1. If you have comments or concerns regarding this interim final rule, please contact Xiaoyi Huang at xhuang@naph.org.