September 3, 2019
The final version of CMS-1710, “Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Prospective Payment System for Federal Fiscal Year 2020 and Updates to the IRF Quality Reporting Program,” was published in August and will go into effect October 1, 2019. The final rule updates the payment rates for IRFs for the year 2020 based on a 2016 base year instead of the previous 2012 base year. The proposed rule considered using a weighted motor score to assign patients to IRF PPS’s case-mix groups; however, the final rule adopted an unweighted motor score based on public comments and removes one of the items considered in the motor score.
Like the proposed rule, the final rule updates the IRF wage index and amends the regulations at 42 CFR 412.622 to clarify that the determination as to whether a physician qualifies as a rehabilitation physician . . . is made by the IRF.
The CMS website includes helpful info to accompany the rule, including wage index tables and the actual data for each of the 1,122 inpatient rehab facilities used to estimate the policy updates.
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