AAHKS President Craig J. Della Valle, MD, Immediate Past President Mark I. Froimson, MD, MBA, Health Policy Council Chair James I. Huddleston, MD and AAHKS staff were joined by AAOS President David A. Halsey, MD and staff at a meeting with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) staff this week in Washington, DC. Attendees met with more than a dozen CMS staff from several different Centers within CMS to express our concerns regarding the removal of TKA from the Medicare inpatient only (IPO) list and how that has been implemented in institutions across the country.
“We had a very productive meeting with the leadership of CMS in conjunction with the AAOS to discuss the challenges for our members and their patients related to the removal of TKA from the inpatient only list and the intersection of this rule with the Two-Midnight Rule. We are very appreciative to the leadership of CMS including Demetrios L. Kouzoukas, Principal Deputy Administrator of CMS and Director of the Center for Medicare and Anand Shah, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer, CMS Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, for organizing the meeting and really listening to our concerns. I am confident that the voice of our membership was heard and that meaningful change will result,” Dr. Della Valle remarked following the meeting. Read the AAHKS Statement issued last month.