The Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act of 2014 required data collection and development of a Unified Post Acute Care Payment(UPAC) System prototype and that CMS provide a model to Congress for implementation by 2023. However, MedPAC proposed moving up this timeline to 2021. This bill would reset those timelines in recognition that several post-acute provider types recently went through significant transitions to new payment models (e.g. RUGS to PDPM) and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on these providers.
The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on April 28, 2021, on “Charting the Path Forward for Telehealth.”
On April 14, President Biden signed the Medicare sequester suspension bill.
This legislation continues the suspension of the 2% Medicare reimbursement cuts (the "sequester") through December 31, 2021. The continued suspension applies to all Medicare billers, including home health, hospices, PACE organizations and skilled nursing facilities.
While the FAQs have always said that there would be some sort of reconciliation process at the end, the updated FAQs set a different tone with a focus on accountability for use of funds and stress an enforcement of the requirements. Although HHS has not set a reporting deadline yet, providers should be preparing, to the degree possible, for this inevitability when the reporting portal will open to submit reports. This includes ensuring that they have documentation for their coronavirus expenses and plan for calculating lost revenue.
On March 19, the House passed bipartisan legislation (H.R. 1868) that would prevent reimbursement rate cuts for Medicare providers, including several types of aging services providers that bill Medicare.
Previous legislation suspended the 2% sequester cut to Medicare through the end of March 2021. If further legislation does extend the suspension, Medicare providers will see the 2% cut reinstated beginning April 1.
The Medicare Part B Calculator is updated with calendar year 2021 rates, including the changes due to the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 which came after the publication of the final rule. You can download the excel tool here.
November NHIC incentive payments were sent to providers beginning the week of January 25 and December payments began arriving on February 12. HHS did not issue a press statement or provide any advanced information about these distributions.
Below is LeadingAge’s analysis of the published information.
For November performance (NHSN data for Nov. 2 – Nov. 29, 2020):
On December 21, Congress passed legislation that included an Omnibus Spending Bill, which allocates funding for the 12 fiscal year 2021 appropriations bills. The spending package also contains a $900 billion emergency coronavirus relief package to protect the lives of the American people. The approximately 6,000 page bill, The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Omnibus and Coronavirus Relief Bill) directly or indirectly impacts most every part of the aging services continuum.
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