CMS finalized three Medicare payment rules July 31, including updates for psychiatric facilities, skilled nursing facilities and hospices.
Here are five things to know:
1. Inpatient psychiatric facilities payment update. CMS is finalizing a 2.2 percent IPF payment rate increase in 2021 compared to 2020. In total, the agency expects payments to inpatient psych facilities to increase by $95 million in 2021 compared to 2020.
In addition to the 2.2 percent market basket increase, the agency expects the overall payments to inpatient psychiatric facilities to increase by another 0.1 percent because the agency updated the outlier threshold amount.
2. Skilled nursing facilities payment update. The final rule updates Medicare payment rates to skilled nursing facilities by 2.2 percent, or an increase of $750 million in 2021 compared to 2020.
3. Hospice payment update. For fiscal year 2021, hospital payment rates will increase by 2.4 percent. The agency expects payments to hospices to increase by $540 million in 2021 compared to 2020.
4. Changes to ICD-10 for skilled nursing facilities. Under the skilled nursing facilities final rule, there are revisions to ICD-10 code mappings under the patient-driven payment model to classify patients into case-mix groups. The changes come after stakeholder feedback.
5. When the rules take place. The rules were filed with the Federal Register July 31, are expected to be published this week, and will become effective Oct. 1, 2020, the beginning of fiscal year 2021.