FY2019 Medicare Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule

HFMA Executive Summary

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule on the Medicare inpatient rehabilitation facility prospective payment system (IRF PPS) for federal fiscal year (FY) 2019. For more information on these highlights, download a full summary of the rule, or read the full text of the proposed rule in the Federal Register .

Impact
CMS estimates that the proposed rule will increase Medicare payments to IRFs by $75 million in FY2019 compared with FY2018. This represents an aggregate increase of 0.9 percent.

Regulatory Change
In addition to provisions to update the IRF PPS payment rates for FY2019, the rule proposes to reduce regulatory burden by modifying several IRF coverage requirements and seeks comments on other possible changes to these provisions; eliminate two measures from the IRF Quality Reporting Program (QRP); and make significant changes to the case-mix classification system beginning with FY2020.

Request for Information
CMS is interested in feedback from stakeholders on how it should use the Conditions of Participation (CoPs), Conditions of Coverage (CfCs), and Requirements for Participation (RfPs) for Long-Term Care (LTC) Facilities to advance electronic exchange of health information in support of care transitions between hospitals and community providers. 

CMS seeks ideas from the public on how best to accomplish the goal of fully interoperable health IT and EHR systems for providers and suppliers, and how to advance the MyHealthEData initiative for patients.

Comments on the proposed rule are due by June 26, 2018.