The 2018 home health final rule

The 2018 home health final rule:

• Updates the home health prospective payment system (HH PPS) payment rates, including the national, standardized 60-day episode payment rates, the national per-visit rates, and the non-routine medical supply (NRS) conversion factor, effective for home health episodes of care ending on or after January 1, 2018.
• Updates the HH PPS case-mix weights using the most current, complete data available at the time of rulemaking.
• Implements the third year of a 3-year phase-in of a reduction to the national, standardized 60-day episode payment to account for estimated case-mix growth unrelated to increases in patient acuity between calendar year (CY) 2012 and CY 2014.
• Reviews efforts to monitor the potential impacts of the rebasing adjustments that were implemented in CY 2014 through CY 2017.
• Finalizes changes to the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model and to the Home Health Quality Reporting Program (HH QRP).

The regulations are effective January 1, 2018. Click here to read the 2018 home health final rule.