Toil and trouble over outpatient prospective payment.

PACs, AVGs, EDGs--the health care alphabet soup is burbling as HCFA considers a mandate for a Medicare outpatient PPS. And some third-party payers are devising their own outpatient PPSs for non-Medicare enrollees in the interest of curbing high ambulatory care costs. Here is a report on the status and timing of all these efforts from a variety of participants and observers.