Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services

On Wednesday, November 1, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate Update final rule for CY 2024 (the Final Rule). The Rule estimates that the aggregate increase to Medicare home health payments for 2024 will be 0.8 percent, or $140 million. This 0.8 percent increase results from the combined effects of three forecasted rate changes: (1) a 3.0 percent increase to home health payments, (2) a 2.6 percent decrease based on the permanent behavior assumption adjustment, and (3) a 0.4 percent increase resulting from an update to the fixed-dollar loss ratio, which is used to determine outlier payments. The 0.8 percent increase is a departure from the Proposed Rule, which estimated a cut in payments of up to 3 percent.Continue Reading CMS Announces 0.8 Percent Aggregate Home Health Payment Increase in 2024

On November 1, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a proposed rule titled “21st Century Cures Act: Establishment of Disincentives for Health Care Providers That Have Committed Information Blocking” (the Proposed Rule). The Proposed Rule, if finalized, would create disincentives for health care providers that the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) determines have committed “information blocking” (as defined at 45 C.F.R. § 171.103).Continue Reading HHS Proposes Disincentives for Providers that Commit Information Blocking

On April 27, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking entitled Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services (Proposed Rule) which would, among other things, establish requirements for the amount of Medicaid payment going towards home care worker compensation.Continue Reading CMS Proposes New Rule that Would Require 80 Percent of Payment to Go Toward Home Care Worker Compensation