CY 2012 Rulemaking - CMS-1353-F: {Final 2012 HHA wage index tables - Updated as of 11/9/11 to correct 2 wage index values} (Published: November 4, 2011): A final rule was displayed at the Federal Register to update Medicare's Home Health Prospective Payment (HH PPS) rates for Calendar Year (CY) 2012. Payments to home health agencies (HHAs) are estimated to decrease by approximately 2.31 percent, or $430 million in CY 2012, the net effect of a 1.4 percent payment update ($280 million increase), the wage index update ($10 million increase), and a 3.79 percent case-mix coding adjustment ($720 million decrease). This rule also imposes a negative 1.32 percent case-mix coding adjustment to the national standardized 60-day episode payment rates for CY 2013. This rule also finalizes structural changes to the HH PPS by removing two hypertension codes from the case-mix system, lowering payments for high therapy episodes and recalibrating the HH PPS case-mix weights to ensure that these changes result in the same aggregate payments. Finally this rule adds flexibility to allow physicians who attend to a home health patient in an acute or post-acute facility to inform the certifying physician of their encounters with the patient in order to satisfy the face-to-face encounter requirement. See all related files at CMS-1353-F. View Press Release.
Open Door Forum Home Health Face-to-Face Therapy and Skilled Nursing Medicare Learning Network (MLN) Spotlights
Go to the Spotlight page for the latest MLN products and announcements! Check it often! |
