CMS releases FY 2016 IRF final rule

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services late today released a final rule updating Medicare fee-for-service payments for inpatient rehabilitation facilities for fiscal year 2016. The rule provides an overall 1.8% update ($135 million), which includes a 2.4% market-basket update, mandatory cuts of 0.5 percentage point for productivity and an additional 0.2 percentage point, and a 0.1 percentage point increase for the updated outlier threshold. In response to concerns raised by the AHA and other stakeholders, the agency makes material improvements to the proposed methodology for a new IRF-specific market basket, which will be implemented for FY 2016. To meet the IRF Quality Reporting Program changes mandated in the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014, CMS re-adopts one pressure ulcer measure, and adds six new measures assessing functional status and falls with injury. CMS also will begin publicly reporting certain IRF QRP data in the fall of 2016. The final rule will take effect Oct. 1.