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Tags Posts tagged with "inpatient rehabilitation facilities"

inpatient rehabilitation facilities

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule in the September 30, 2019 Federal Register that revises requirements for discharge planning for inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, hospitals (including acute, children’s, long term acute care, and critical access), and home health agencies. Each of these facilities must meet these requirements as a condition to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In addition to this final rule requiring the discharge planning process to focus on the patient’s goals of care and treatment preferences, it also empowers patients to make informed decisions about their care as they are discharged from acute care to post-acute care (PAC).

The final rule includes a new requirement that sends necessary medical information to the receiving facility or appropriate PAC provider after a patient is discharged from the hospital or transferred to another PAC provider. In addition, hospitals must ensure and support patients’ rights to access their medical records in the form and format requested by the patient.

These regulations are effective on November 29, 2019. Contact RCPA Rehabilitation Services Director Melissa Dehoff with questions.

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During the November Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) National Provider call with inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), CMS responded to a question related to the counting of minutes of therapy provided by a therapy student that these minutes would not count, regardless of the level of supervision.

This triggered much confusion and led to the therapy professional associations requesting a meeting with CMS to discuss and address this and their concerns surrounding this response. After this collaborative effort between these associations and CMS, CMS issued a clarification of its position on therapy students in IRFs.

CMS has noted that student therapists may participate in therapy provided in an IRF if the student is appropriately supervised, and that the time spent with the student may count towards satisfying intensity of therapy requirements for IRFs. Cited directly from the clarification:

“Regarding the IRF intensive rehabilitation therapy program requirement in 42 CFR 412.622(a)(3)(ii), CMS’s current policy does not prohibit the therapy services furnished by a therapy student under the appropriate supervision of a qualified therapist or therapy assistant from counting toward the intensive rehabilitation therapy program. However, IRFs provide a very intensive hospital level of rehabilitation therapy to some of the most vulnerable patients. To ensure the health and safety of this vulnerable population, CMS expects that all student therapy services will be provided by students under the supervision of a licensed therapist allowed by the hospital to provide such services.”

Contact Melissa Dehoff, RCPA Rehabilitation Services Director, with questions.

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On November 15, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) held a National Provider Call for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) that focused on the changes included in the fiscal year (FY) 2019 inpatient rehabilitation facility prospective payment system (IRF PPS) final rule.

CMS has posted the presentation from this call and recently posted both the audio recording and transcript. RCPA encourages all members in the Rehabilitation Services Division to listen to this recording or read the transcript from this call. Questions can be directed to Melissa Dehoff.

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It has been reported that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued letters of non-compliance to Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRFs) specific to the IRF quality reporting program (QRP) requirements for the data collection period affecting federal fiscal year (FFY) 2019 reimbursement. IRFs that did not meet the IRF QRP reporting requirements will receive a two percent payment reduction on their IRF prospective payment system (PPS) annual increase factor in FY 2019.

IRFs found to be non-compliant should have received notification from their Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) and are also expected to receive a letter in their provider Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reporting (CASPER) folder with specific details regarding the missing quality reporting data. Additional information on the data collections requirements and submission timeframes for FY 2019 compliance determination can be found in the CMS Data Collection & Final Submissions table posted on the CMS website, as well as the CMS IRF QRP website.

IRFs that feel they have received a non-compliance notification letter in error may request CMS reconsideration of the decision. Providers have 30 days to file a reconsideration request. Detailed filing instructions can be found on the IRF Quality Reporting Reconsideration and Exception & Extension web page.

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be hosting a live webcast for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) on Tuesday, May 2, 2017, from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm. The focus of the webcast will be to provide a better understanding of how Review and Correct Reports fit within the overall Quality Reporting Program (QRP). The webcast will also provide information about re-submitting data to correct errors prior to the quarterly submission deadlines to ensure the accuracy of the data which will be publicly displayed. Registration is required to participate. Those who register will be provided with a URL to access the training immediately upon completing the registration process.The webcast will be recorded and posted to the CMS YouTube site following the event.

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently identified a system’s error when calculating payments for inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) providers. To correct this error, a special wage index under the fiscal year 2016 IRF prospective payment system (PPS) will need to be implemented. This system fix will be implemented sometime around October 26, 2015. Providers’ Medicare administrative contractor will mass adjust affected IRF PPS claims with dates of service on or after October 1, 2015. No provider action is required.

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that a special open door forum for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) will be held on Tuesday, October 20, 2015, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. During the call, CMS will discuss the upcoming Dry Run for IRFs Provider Performance reports on All-Cause Unplanned Readmissions for 30-day post discharge from IRFs. This will also include timeline and content of facility dry run reports that will be disseminated to IRFs from November 3 through December 3, 2015.

To participate in this special open door forum call:
Dial: 1-866-402-6263
Conference ID #: 55982595