[Announcement] Hospice Benefit: Final FY 2017 Payment and Policy Change | CPC Exam Practice Test Questions And Answers For Medical Coder Certification

Hospice

Originally Published in MLN Connects

On July 29, CMS issued a final rule (CMS-1652-F) outlining FY 2017 Medicare payment rates and wage index and the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (QRP) for hospices serving Medicare beneficiaries. As finalized, hospices would see a 2.1 percent ($ 350 million) increase in their payments for FY 2017 (reflecting an estimated 2.7 percent inpatient hospital market basket update, reduced by a 0.3 percentage point productivity adjustment and a 0.3 percentage point adjustment required by law).

Changes to the Hospice QRP:

• Provides a description of the Hospice CAHPS® Survey and outlines participation requirements for the FY 2019 and FY 2020 annual payment updates

• Finalizes two new quality measures for FY 2017

• CMS expects to begin public reporting hospice quality measures via a Compare site in CY 2017

Enhanced Data Collection:

• CMS is considering enhancing the current Hospice Item Set (HIS) data collection instrument to be more in line with other post-acute care settings

• This revised data collection instrument would be a comprehensive patient assessment instrument, rather than the current chart abstraction tool

For More Information:

• Final Rule will become effective on October 1, 2016
• Hospice Center website

See the full text of this excerpted CMS fact sheet (issued July 29).

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