CMS DROPS PAYMENTS TO HOME HEALTH AGENCIES BY 2.3 PERCENT IN 2012

Payments to home health agencies will drop about 2.3 percent in 2012 under a final rule released last week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. That amounts to about $430 million in reductions.

The rule, published Nov. 4 in the Federal Register, takes effect Jan. 1, and includes marketbasket and wage index increases totaling $290 million and reductions to the home health prospective payment system rates totaling $720 million.

The reductions are being implemented to account for increases in aggregate case-mix that are largely related to billing practices and not related to changes in the health status of patients.

“We believe it is appropriate to reduce the (home health prospective payment system) rates to account for the increase in nominal case-mix, so as to move toward more accurate payment for the delivery of home health services,” the CMS rule said.

In addition, health care reform applies a 1 percent reduction to the 2012 home health marketbasket amount, CMS said. Since the CY 2012 marketbasket is 2.4 percent, the update will be 1.4 percent.

Read the rule at http://op.bna.com/hl.nsf/r?Open=nwel-8n6thu.