Medicare program; prospective payment for Medicare inpatient hospital services--HCFA.

This final rule amends the Medicare regulations published as an interim final rule on September 1, 1983 (48 FR 39752). Those regulations implement Title VI of the Social Security Amendments of 1983 (Pub. L. 98-21), which changed the method of payment for inpatient hospital services from a cost-based, retrospective reimbursement system to a prospective payment system based on diagnosis. The changes contained in this final rule result from our consideration of the public comments that were received in response to the interim final rule.