Inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, hospices and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) will see their Medicare payments increase by nearly $2 billion in the next fiscal year.
The final rules for payments issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has bumped up payments for all three segments by significant amounts. SNFs will receive the biggest boost, $920 million, according to the final rule under the payment rate update issued by the CMS. Hospices will receive a $350 million payment bump. Rehab hospitals will receive an additional $145 million, but will also be required to participate in a new quality reporting program that is estimated to cost the industry $5.23 million in fiscal 2017.
The SNF update includes a 2.7 percent market basket increase, offset by a 0.3 percent reduction tied to improved mandates of the Affordable Care Act, for a total boost of 2.4 percent.
Hospices will also receive a 2.7 percent market basket increase, offset by 0.6 percent in reductions tied to productivity and ACA mandates.
Hospices have been surging in growth in recent years, but there has also been increasing concern that they're ripe for abuse, with some facilities providing prolonged inpatient care, driving up their payments from the federal government.
Rehab hospitals will receive the same market basket increase, along with an additional increase of 0.3 percent for high-cost outlier cases. However, that will be offset by ACA and productivity cuts totaling 1.05 percent.
Under the quality program, rehab hospitals will be monitored for rates of catheter-acquired infections, pressure ulcers and readmission reductions, among other measures.
A recently released report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General concluded that up to 30 percent of rehab hospital patients suffer some form of harm during their stays.
To learn more:
– read the SNF payment rule (.pdf)
– check out the hospice payment rule (.pdf)