Dive Brief:
- Last Thursday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that would give rehab facilities a 1.7% Medicare rate increase in 2016.
- Under the new rule, rehab facilities would get $130 million more in 2016 than they did in 2015.
- A portion of the increase would be contingent on reporting of new quality measures.
Dive Insight:
Under the new rule, rehab facilities would need to report on several new quality measures in order to receive the entire increase. Those who do not submit the data will have their increase reduced by two percentage points. According to Modern Healthcare, "The measures—which Medicare is also applying to long-term care, skilled nursing and home health providers—would track the percentage of patients with new or worsened pressure ulcers; the percentage of patients with functional status assessments and care plans; and the percentage of patients experiencing falls causing major injuries.
Beginning in the fall of 2016, CMS plans to publicly report the quality data.