Medicare Program; Supplemental Proposed Changes to the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Supplemental Proposed Fiscal Year 2011 Rates

The Georgia Hospital Association Center for Rural Health supports the proposed rule, specifically the payment adjustments for low-volume hospitals. They argue that reducing the distance requirement to "15 road miles" will improve access to covered benefits for rural Medicare beneficiaries.

An individual is opposing a proposed Medicare code change that would preclude gastroparesis as a primary diagnosis. The commenter argues that this change would make it difficult for patients to cover the costs of total parenteral nutrition, potentially leading to life-threatening consequences for those with the disorder.

The Digestive Disease National Coalition (DDNC) opposes adding gastroparesis (code 536.3) to the "unacceptable principal diagnosis" edit in the Medicare Code Editor. They argue that for patients with idiopathic gastroparesis, there is no underlying disorder to sequence first, and removing the code would prevent these patients from having a billable diagnosis.

An individual is opposing a proposed change to Medicare coverage that would exclude treatment for idiopathic gastroparesis. The commenter argues that this decision will lead to life-threatening consequences for their family member and other patients.

An individual with idiopathic gastroparesis opposes the proposed Medicare coverage changes, stating that the decision to exclude coverage for this condition will leave them unable to afford essential treatments like IV nutrition and medications.