CMS Issues Medicare SNF PPS Proposed Rule for Fiscal Year 2016.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a proposed rule updating the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Prospective Payment System (PPS) rates and policies for fiscal year (FY) 2016. The proposed rule would increase payment rates to skilled nursing facilities by 1.4 percent or $500 million.
Highlights of the proposed rule include:
- Adoption of three quality measure domains for the FY 2018 SNF quality reporting program.
- Adoption of the SNF 30-Day All-Cause Readmission Measure for the SNF Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program for FY 2019.
- Solicitation of public comments on SNF VBP Program policies such as performance standards, appropriate baseline and performance periods, performance scoring methodology, public reporting and feedback reports.
- Proposed requirement for SNFs and nursing facilities participating in Medicare or Medicaid to electronically submit direct care staffing information to the Department of Health and Human Services.
CMS will accept comments on the proposed rule until June 19, 2015.
The proposed rule is available at:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-04-20/pdf/2015-08944.pdf.
The CMS fact sheet is available at:
http://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2015-Fact-sheets-items/2015-04-15.html.