FY 2022 Skilled Nursing Facilities PPS Final Rule Summary

On July 29, 2021, CMS issued a final rule updating fiscal year (FY) 2022 Medicare skilled nursing facility (SNF) payment rates and the requirements for the SNF Quality Reporting Program and the SNF Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program. The rule was published in the Federal Register on August 4, 2021. The federal per diem rates under the SNF Prospective Payment System are increased by 1.2 percent. A measure suppression policy and special scoring rules are adopted for the SNF VBP Program, and payment adjustments are made for FY 2022 in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. No structural changes are being made to the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) patient classification system. CMS extensively discusses a methodology, referred to as a parity adjustment, to recalibrate the PDPM’s budget neutrality adjustment. Finally, CMS summarizes public comments on several requests for information on future quality measures, digital quality measurement system development, and addressing health disparities in CMS programs.