On July 31, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized three Medicare payment rules.
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The new rules will go into effect on October 1, 2020. CMS has stated that the rule furthers their efforts to strengthen Medicare.
What are the new rules?
1. Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities.
The first rule is for inpatient psychiatric facilities, which will see a 2.2% increase in payment rates. There will also likely be an increase in overall payments for inpatient psychiatric facilities by 0.1%. The increase is to match increases in providing care.
CMS is also finalizing language changes to allow advanced practice providers to operate within the scope of practice allowed by state law by documenting progress notes in patient medical records in psychiatric hospitals.
2. Hospice Payments.
The second rule impacts hospice payments. Hospital payment rates will increase by 2.4%. Hospices that fail to meet reporting requirements receive a 2% point reduction.
CMS is also providing updated examples of hospice election statement and the addendum to reflect changes in content requirements.
3. Skilled Nursing Facilities.
Finally, the third rule provides for revisions to ICD-10 for skilled nursing facilities. It will classify skilled nursing facility patients into payment groups.
There is also a 5% cap on wage index decreases and minor administrative changes.
To see the latest news, including the fact sheets about the rules, from CMS, CLICK HERE.
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