For more information about this blog post, please contact Ryan L. O’Neill or Labinot Alexander Berlajolli.

CMS issued three final rules covering its annual updates for hospices, inpatient psychiatric facilities ("IPF") and inpatient rehabilitation facilities ("IRF") for fiscal year 2023. Below are highlights from each update:

Hospice Payment Updates 

Under the final rule for hospices, 87 FR 45659, the fiscal year (“FY”) 2023 hospice payment update percentage is 3.8% (an estimated increase of $825 million in payments from FY 2022). The hospice payment update includes a statutory aggregate cap of $32,486.92 that limits the overall payment per patient that is made to a hospice annually, which reflects an increase of 3.8% from 2022. The final rule provides an update on the development of a patient assessment instrument, titled Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation ("HOPE").  This final rule also provides an update on testing conducted for the Consumer Assessment of healthcare Providers and Systems (“CAHPS”) Hospice Survey, which is used to collect data on experiences of hospice care from primary caregivers of hospice patients.

CMS released a Fact Sheet for the hospice payment update here. The final rule can be found here.

Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities

Under this final rule, 87 FR 46846, the total estimated payments to inpatient psychiatric facilities are estimated to increase by 2.5% or $90 million in FY 2023 compared to 2022. The final rule applies a 5% cap on decreases in the IPF PPS wage index for FY 2023 and subsequent years, in a budget-neutral manner such that IPF’s wage index for FY 2023 and subsequent years will not be less than 95% of its final wage index calculated in the prior FY.

CMS released a Fact Sheet for the IPF rule here. The final rule published in the Federal Register can be found here.

Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities 

This final rule, 7 FR 47038, updates the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities Prospective Payment System (“IRF PPS”) payment rates by 3.9%. CMS estimates that overall IRF payments for FY 2023 will increase by 3.2% (or $275 million) relative to payments in FY 2022. It also finalizes a permanent 5% cap on annual wage index decreases to smooth year-to-year changes in providers’ wage index payments.

CMS released a Fact Sheet for the IRF rule here. The final rule published in the Federal Register can be found here.