CMS has issued its home health prospective payment system final rule for 2017, which reduces payments to home health agencies.
Under the final rule, CMS estimates Medicare payments to home health agencies will be reduced by 0.7 percent, or $130 million, in 2017.
The estimated decrease is based on the following: a $450 million increase to the home health payment update; a $420 million decrease due to the rebasing adjustments to the national, standardized 60-day episode payment rate, the national per-visit payment rates and the non-routine medical supplies conversion factor; and a $160 million decrease due to the adjustment to the national, standardized 60-day episode payment rate to account for nominal case-mix growth.
In 2015, about 3.4 million Medicare beneficiaries received home health services from approximately 11,400 home health agencies, according to CMS.
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