First few Article Sentences
Outpatient hospital reimbursement has undergone a dramatic evolution. In the “old days” (circa 1986) outpatient hospital reimbursement was often an afterthought. DRG based inpatient reimbursement was still relatively new. Many commercial contracts paid outpatient activity on a percent of charges.
Things were beginning to change, though. The catalyst was the federal government. The feds realized that the DRG system established by Medicare in 1983 was beginning to control inpatient expense.