The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued the calendar year 2017 final rule for the home health prospective payment system (PPS).
The rule, after all policy changes, would reduce HH payments by 0.7 percent, a $130 million cut, from 2016 payment levels. The net cut includes a 2.8 percent market-basket update and 0.3 percentage point cut for productivity, as mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It also applies the second of three planned 0.9 percentage point cuts to account for estimated case mix growth from calendar years 2012 through 2014 that CMS says was unrelated to increases in patient acuity.
The rule also implements the final year of the four-year phase-in of the rebasing of this payment system, a 2.3 percent cut, as mandated by the ACA.
The rule will be published in the July 5 Federal Register and take effect Jan. 1.
Click here for more details from the AHA, and watch for more information later in a members-only call.
