On February 17, 2017, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced that it had delayed the effective date of provisions of a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Final Rule that were scheduled to take effect February 18, 2017. The Final Rule – titled “Advancing Care Coordination through Episode Payment Models” – was issued January 3, 2017 (see our previous analysis here) and in pertinent part implements:
- Three new Medicare episode payment models (EPMs) surrounding 90-day episodes of care arising from (a) an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), (b) a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), or (c) a surgical hip/femur fracture treatment (SHFFT);
- An incentive payment model to spur increased utilization of cardiac rehabilitation and intensive cardiac rehabilitation for Medicare beneficiaries; and
- Modifications to the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model (CJR Model), an ongoing CMS payment model involving hip and knee replacements that started on April 1, 2016.