Hospitals were happy to see this week that CMS has approved a 3.2 percent hike in inpatient rehab payments for 2008, though they aren't thrilled with the terms involved.
Under its final rules, CMS will pay inpatient rehab facilities $6.4 billion during the coming year, up 3.2 percent from last year. However, it will only pay the higher rate if 75 percent of an inpatient rehab hospital's patients have one of 13 conditions requiring intensive rehab services. Also, hospitals can no longer qualify by citing a patient's co-morbid conditions.
Rehab hospitals have argued the 75 percent rule could block patient access to care, but CMS has concluded that such is not the case.
To learn more about the increase:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece
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