Comment on CMS-2026-1256-0002

Summary: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, a public academic health center, opposes the proposed FY 2027 hospital payment rates as insufficient to cover actual inflation and rising labor, drug, and supply costs. They also argue against specific policy changes regarding overhead cost codification, severity levels for housing-related Z-codes, and the elimination of referral-based tests for off-campus facilities, citing concerns over underpayment and patient care continuity.