With overall permanent cuts climbing to 7.85% in the final rule released late Monday, the industry is looking to Congressional action to freeze those losses and preserve existing funding for home health services.
CMS announced a surprise overall increase in payments for home health in the 2023 HHPPS final rule: an increase of 0.7% or a total of $125 million. CMS is splitting the permanent cuts between 2023 and 2024, so a 4% increase in payments due to rising costs absorbs the more than 3.9% cut that CMS is applying to payments in 2023.
“This rule offers the tactic of relief for 2023, but this short-term acknowledgement that home health cannot withstand devastating cuts does nothing to address the long-term impacts that the Final Rule’s 7.85% permanent reduction to home health payments will have on the stability of the Medicare home health program and services to senior citizens,” says Joanne Cunningham, CEO of the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare.
Industry advocates have argued to CMS that its methodology in determining the cuts was flawed and inconsistent with its own data, notes William A. Dombi, president of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice.
“We now turn to Congress to correct what CMS has done and prevent the impending harm to the 3.2 million highly vulnerable home health patients that depend on this essential Medicare benefit annually,” Dombi says. “Even with the limited phase-in of the rate cut, with significantly rising costs for staff, transportation and more, home health agencies across the country cannot withstand the impact of rate cuts.”
Proposed legislation would prevent the cuts from taking effect until 2026, giving more time for data to show the actual impacts of the Patient-Driven Groupings Model.