On September 17, United States District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled that CMS in its CY 2019 OPPS final rule reducing Medicare payment rates for evaluation and management (E/M) services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries in hospital excepted off-campus hospital provider-based departments exceeded its statutory authority and vacated the rule.  American Hospital Association v. Azar, Civil Action No. 18-2841 (RMC). The rule would have reduced over a two-year period Medicare payment rates for E/M services rendered to Medicare patients in excepted off-campus provider-based departments, thereby beginning in CY 2020 equalizing the payment rate for E/M services furnished to Medicare patients in excepted off-campus provider-based departments, non-excepted off-campus provider-based departments, and physician offices.  The court granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment vacating the final rule as ultra vires but denied the plaintiffs’ request for a court order requiring CMS to issue payments improperly withheld under the rule. The court remanded the matter for further proceedings consistent with the ruling.  The Memorandum Opinion is accessible at https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2018cv2841-31