On August 1, 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a Final Rule updating the prospective payment rates for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs). The rule also establishes a program that reduces the annual increase factor by 2 percent for failure to report quality data to HHS starting in 2014. The Final Rule implements section 3004 of the Affordable Care Act and will become effective on October 1, 2011.
The Final Rule affecting IRFs was published in the Federal Register on August 5, 2011 and can be found here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-05/pdf/2011-19516.pdf.
In addition, on August 1, 2011, CMS and HHS released a Final Rule that updates payment rates for skilled nursing facilities (SNF). Among other things, the rule also recalibrates the case-mix indexes, discusses a non-therapy ancillary component being developed by CMS, and reduces the market basket percentage.
The Final Rule affecting SNFs will become effective on October 1, 2011 and was published in the Federal Register on August 8, 2011. To read the text of the Final Rule, please go to http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-08/pdf/2011-19544.pdf.