CY 2018 Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate Update and CY 2019 Case-Mix Adjustment Methodology Refinements

CMS's summary

“This proposed rule updates the home health prospective payment system (HH PPS) payment rates, including the national, standardized 60- day episode payment rates, the national per-visit rates, and the non- routine medical supply (NRS) conversion factor, effective for home health episodes of care ending on or after January 1, 2018. This rule also: updates the HH PPS case-mix weights using the most current, complete data available at the time of rulemaking; implements the 3rd- year of a 3-year phase-in of a reduction to the national, standardized 60-day episode payment to account for estimated case-mix growth unrelated to increases in patient acuity (that is, nominal case-mix growth) between CY 2012 and CY 2014; and discusses our efforts to monitor the potential impacts of the rebasing adjustments that were implemented in CY 2014 through CY 2017. This rule proposes case-mix methodology refinements, as well as a change in the unit of payment from 60-day episodes of care to 30-day periods of care, to be implemented for home health services beginning on or after January 1, 2019; and finally, this rule proposes changes to the Home Health Value- Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model and to the Home Health Quality Reporting Program (HH QRP).”

Dates

“To be assured consideration, comments must be received at one of the addresses provided below, no later than 5 p.m. on September 25, 2017.”