CMS-1358-F

A final rule was displayed at the Federal Register to update Medicare's Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) payment rates for Calendar Year (CY) 2013. Payments to home health agencies (HHAs) are estimated to decrease by approximately 0.01 percent, or -$10 million in CY 2013, reflecting the combined effects of the home health payment update ($260 million increase), wage index updates ($70 million decrease), a new FDL ratio ($50 million increase), and reductions to the HH PPS to account for a 1.32 percent case-mix coding adjustment ($250 million decrease). The rule also rebases and revises the home health market basket, allows additional regulatory flexibility regarding therapy documentation and reassessments as well as face-to-face encounter requirements, discusses the transition plan for ICD-10, and provides information on the home health study concerning home health care access. Lastly, this rule implements new requirements concerning the hospice quality reporting program and will establish requirements for unannounced, standard, and extended surveys of home health agencies (HHAs) and provide a number of alternative (or intermediate) sanctions that could be imposed if HHAs were out of compliance with Federal requirements.