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This final rule will publish under the title "TRICARE Coverage and Reimbursement of Certain Services Resulting from Temporary Program Changes in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic,” related to RINs 0720-AB81 and 0720-AB83. 

The Department of Defense is finalizing an interim final rule that temporarily amended 32 CFR part 199 to revise certain elements of the TRICARE program under 32 CFR part 199 to: (1) waive the three-day prior hospital qualifying stay requirement for coverage of skilled nursing facility care; (2) add coverage for treatment use of investigational drugs under expanded access authorized by the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); (3) waive certain provisions for acute care hospitals that permitted authorization of temporary hospital facilities and freestanding ambulatory surgical centers providing inpatient and outpatient hospital services; and, consistent with similar changes under the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services; (4) revise diagnosis related group (DRG) reimbursement by temporarily reimbursing DRGs at a 20 percent higher rate for COVID-19 patients; and (5) waive certain requirements for long term care hospitals. The final action permanently adopts Medicare's New Technology Add-On Payments adjustment to DRGs for new medical services and technologies and adopted Medicare's Hospital Value Based Purchasing Program.

The final rule adopts the interim final rule with changes, except for the note to section 199.4(g)(15)(i)(A), published at 85 FR 54923, September 3, 2020, which remains interim. That provision will be finalized in a separate final rule.