On Thursday, April 16, 2020, CMS released the FY 2021 Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) Prospective Payment System (PPS) proposed rule. CMS proposes an overall update of 2.9% (or $270 million) for IRFs for fiscal year 2021. They also propose to allow non-physician practitioners to perform any coverage service and documentation requirements currently performed by a rehabilitation physician, as long as the duties are within the practitioner’s scope of practice. CMS proposes to remove the post-admission physician evaluation requirement (currently waived during the COVID-19 public health emergency) since it contains much of the same information included in the pre-admission screening of the patient and the patient’s plan of care. The comment period closes June 15, 2020.
For more information, access the Proposed Rule.
