CMS has announced a temporary pause in distributing the Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) and Comparative Billing Report (CBR) through the fall of 2024.
Home health agencies typically receive access to PEPPER reports in the summer with data on agency-specific trends compared to state and national benchmarks, showing those areas where the agency may be at risk for improper payments.
“There will be a temporary pause in distributing CBRs and PEPPERs as CMS works to improve and update the program and reporting system,” CMS says on the PEPPER site. “We recognize the importance of these reports to your practice. Therefore, during this time, CMS will be working diligently to enhance the quality and accessibility of the reports.”
A Request for Information is expected to be released soon so that CMS can collect feedback on the reports.