In the FY 2025 Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) final rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized separate payments for the cost of establishing and maintaining access to buffer stocks of essential medicines for independent hospitals with 100 or fewer beds. This new guidance explains how Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) will process these payments and the methods that hospitals can use to receive the payments.
