The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services late Wednesday disclosed its proposal to provide a 2.7% payment increase to hospices for fiscal year 2023.
The pay bump, which amounts to $580 million, is based on the estimated 3.1% market basket update reduced by the productivity adjustment of 0.4%. CMS said in a press release that hospices that fail to meet quality reporting requirements will receive a 2 percentage point reduction to the annual market basket update for 2023.
The hospice payment also includes a statutory aggregate cap that limits the overall amount per patient that is made to a hospice annually. In 2023, the amount will be $32,142.65, a 2.7% increase over the 2022 cap of $31,297.61.
In addition, CMS proposed a permanent cap on negative wage index index changes greater than a 5% decrease over the previous year.
“This rule proposes to establish a permanent mitigation policy to smooth the impact of year-to-year changes in hospice payments related to changes in the hospice wage index,” CMS said.
And the rule updates the development of the patient assessment instrument HOPE, which would contribute to the patient’s plan of care once adopted.
CMS will accept public comment on all proposals by May 31, 2022.
