IRF Rule Proposes Boost in Medicare Payment, More Flexibility for Non-Physician Practitioners
- April 17, 2020
Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRFs) would see a 2.9% (or $270 million) update in Medicare payments for fiscal year (FY) 2021, relative to payments in FY 2020 under a proposed rule issued April 16 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
The rule also proposes to adopt the most recent Office of Management and Budget statistical area delineations and apply a 5% cap on wage index decreases from FY 2020 to FY 2021.
Because of the “significant impact” of the COVID-19 pandemic, “and limited capacity of health care providers to review and provide comment on extensive proposals,” CMS said it limited the rulemaking to essential policies.
The rule proposes to allow non-physician practitioners to perform any of the IRF coverage service and documentation duties that are currently required to be performed by a rehabilitation physician, provided that the duties are within the non-physician practitioner’s scope of practice under applicable state law, according to a fact sheet.
In addition, CMS is proposing to no longer require a post-admission physician evaluation because the post-admission evaluation covers much of the same information as continues to be included in the pre-admission screening of the patient and the patient’s plan of care, the fact sheet said.
The rule is scheduled to be published in the April 21 Federal Register and comments are due by June 15, 2020.