Pay Increase for Skilled Nursing Facilities come 2023: Summary of 87 FR 47502
On July 29, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule that updates Medicare payment policies and rates for skilled nursing facilities under the Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System (SNF PPS) for 2023.
According to the final rule, the federal government will give skilled nursing facilities a 2.7% pay hike in their payments for 2023! “The update reflects the 5.1% payment rate increase” (Bailey, Victoria).
The Payment Rate Increase Breakdown:
1.) An increase due to
• 3.9% Skilled Nursing Facility market basket increase = an estimated rate of growth calculated for a specific time frame which is used to update payments and cost limits. In other words, an estimate projecting what providers may face when trying to deliver health services.
• 1.5%-point market basket forecast error adjustment = an adjustment applied to the current payment update if the forecast error exceeds a specific threshold (i.e. 0.5 percentage point for SNF).
• 0.3 percentage point reduction for productivity = the required percentage of on-the-clock time spent providing hands-on care to patients.
2.) An unintended increase resulting from the implementation of the Patient-Drive Payment Model (PDPM) in October 2019
(Bailey, Victoria. “CMS Final Rule Boosts Medicare Payments for Skilled Nursing Facilities.” Revcycle Intelligence: Xtelligent Healthcare Media. 01 Aug, 2022. https://revcycleintelligence.com/news/cms-final-rule-boosts-medicare-payments-for-skilled-nursing-facilities)
New Quality Measures:
1.) Tracking influenza vaccination coverage among healthcare professionals in SNFs
Skilled nursing facilities must submit data on the measure between October 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023
2.) Collecting Transfer of Health Information and standardized patient assessment data
Starting October 1, 2023, skilled nursing facilities will also need to start collecting Transfer of Health Information data and standardized patient assessment data, such as race, ethnicity, preferred language, and health literacy.
Changes to the SNF VBP program:
1.) suppress the SNF 30-Day All-Cause Readmission Measure for FY 2023 performance scoring
2.) CMS will assign a performance score of zero to all participating SNFs to mitigate the effect of PHE-related measures on final scores.
3.) reduce the federal per diem rate for SNFs by 2 percent and award SNFs 60 percent of that withhold, resulting in a 1.2 percent payback to SNFs
(Bailey, Victoria. “CMS Final Rule Boosts Medicare Payments for Skilled Nursing Facilities.” Revcycle Intelligence: Xtelligent Healthcare Media. 01 Aug, 2022. https://revcycleintelligence.com/news/cms-final-rule-boosts-medicare-payments-for-skilled-nursing-facilities)
This is a living article, and hence it represents research in progress. Follow EZhealthcarejobs.com for future updates.
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Sources:
• Bailey, Victoria. “CMS Final Rule Boosts Medicare Payments for Skilled Nursing Facilities.” Revcycle Intelligence: Xtelligent Healthcare Media. 01 Aug, 2022. https://revcycleintelligence.c...
• Morse, Susan. “Skilled nursing facility final payment rates updated to reflect impact of COVID-19.” Healthcare Finance. 1 Aug. 2022. https://www.healthcarefinancen...
• Reiland, Jordyn. “[UPDATED] CMS Final Rule Gives Nursing Homes 2.7% Pay Bump, PDPM-Related Cuts to Be Phased In.” Skilled Nursing News. 29, Jul. 2022. https://skillednursingnews.com...
• Zorn, Alex. “SNFs See Largest Health Care Wage Increases Yet Employment Levels Lag Behind.” Skilled Nursing News. 25 Feb. 2022. https://skillednursingnews.com...
• https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/f...
• https://www.dshs.wa.gov/sites/...
• https://www.federalregister.go...
• https://www.federalregister.go...
• https://public-inspection.fede...
• https://www.federalregister.go...
