Comments Needed on Proposed Medicare Payment Rule

Recently, the proposed Medicare payment rule was released.  Once finalized, this rule will impact SNF Medicare rates effective October 1, 2022.   

When the transition was made to PDPM, it was supposed to be budget neutral.  PDPM should cost no more or less than the system it replaced.  Unfortunately, CMS estimates that under PDPM, providers are being overpaid by 4.6% annually.  The proposed rule intends to reduce payments by 4.6% as of October 1st.  Even with the larger than typical proposed annual Medicare increase, the 4.6% reduction (“parity adjustment”) would result in an average net reduction in Medicare rates of .7%.  There seems to be no chance of avoiding some type of parity adjustment.  However, alternatives to the proposed parity adjustment include spreading the reduction over multiple years.   

NCHCFA and the American Health Care Association (AHCA) are stressing the importance of submitting comments on the proposed payment rule.  We believe that thousands of comments will be needed to have any impact on the parity adjustment rate reduction.  AHCA held a webinar on the process of submitting comments on the payment rule and has made the recording of this webinar available for on-demand viewing.     

The deadline for submitting comments is June 10, 2022 at 5:00 PM EST.   

Recording Available! Tips for Commenting to CMS on FY 2023 SNF Proposed Payment Rule Webinar   

The recording of the AHCA member webinar on tips for drafting and submitting your comments on the FY 2023 SNF Proposed Payment Rule is now available.

Please note that the recording is available to AHCA members only.   

ACCESS THE RECORDING