No New Problems Uncovered in Latest ICD-10 Testing
With the official startup date looming and the last dry run complete, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) says that at least from its end of things, all systems are go. In its latest...
View ArticleHome Health Payment for 2016 Includes New Value-Based Model, Slightly Smaller...
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a final rule for the 2016 Medicare home health prospective payment system (HH PPS) that looks a lot like the rule it proposed earlier...
View ArticleCMS Puts Unpopular Lower-Limb Prostheses Proposal on Hold
After receiving widespread criticism from patients, advocates, and groups including APTA, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that it will back away from a proposal that...
View ArticleDetailed Summaries Now Available on New CMS Rules for 2016
The final 2016 rules recently released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have been analyzed by APTA regulatory affairs staff, and the following summaries are now available:...
View ArticlePQRS Penalty Letters Require Quick Action From PTs
If you recently received a Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS)-related penalty notice from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, you’re not alone. But you need to take action before a...
View ArticleFrom PT in Motion Magazine: Get the Basics on CMS Bundling Program for TKA, THA
Remember, back last year, when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said it would be moving from fee-for-service models and toward more outcomes-based payment systems? It wasn’t...
View ArticleCMS Will Test Payment Increases to Selected SNFs
In its continuing search for ways to reduce avoidable hospitalizations among skilled nursing facility (SNF) patients, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will test a new payment system...
View ArticleCMS Offers Training on Coming IRF Changes
Changes to reporting requirements for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) are coming this fall, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is helping providers prepare. Now...
View ArticleProposed Home Health Rule Includes Planned $180 Million Reduction, Shift to...
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposed rule for the 2017 Medicare home health prospective payment system (HH PPS) that would continue a planned series of cuts that...
View ArticleSNF, IRF Final Rules Increase Payment—And Reporting Requirements
In final rules for 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has followed through on its proposed push for more quality reporting and new payment models for skilled nursing facilities...
View ArticleNew LTC Facility Rule Addresses Respiratory Therapy, Physical Therapy Orders,...
After nearly a quarter-century of leaving things mostly untouched, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has officially updated its rule on long-term care (LTC) facilities, adding...
View ArticleInteractive Map From CMS Lays Out PT and OT Market Saturation
Physical therapists (PTs) and occupational therapists (OTs) in Polk County, Texas—county seat Livingston—must not get much sleep, because according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services...
View ArticleAPTA to CMS: Proposed Orthotics and Prosthetics Rule Hurts Patients, PTs
When it comes to a proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that would impose undue regulatory and financial burdens on physical therapists (PTs) who provide custom...
View ArticleCMS Puts the Brakes on Unpopular ‘Pre-Claim’ Demonstration, Delays Conditions...
Good news for home health agencies (HHAs) and the physical therapists who work in those settings: the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is suspending its plans to expand a required...
View ArticleInpatient Payment Proposed Rule Calls for $3 Billion Increase to Acute Care...
Acute care hospitals (ACHs) could receive a 2.9% increase in payment rates next year and see a relaxation in some reporting requirements related to electronic health records (EHRs) if a proposed rule...
View ArticleCMS Clears Up Error in Description of Which CPT Code Combinations Won’t...
Apparently, physical therapists (PTs), occupational therapists (OTs), and the outpatient facilities they work for aren’t the only ones adjusting to the new Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) tiered...
View ArticleNew HHA Medicare, Medicaid Participation Requirements Won’t Launch Until...
It’s now final: the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has suspended startup of revised conditions of participation (CoP) for home health agencies (HHAs) until January 13, 2018. The...
View ArticleFinal Inpatient Payment Rule Increases ACH Payments by $2.4 Billion, Cuts...
Acute care hospitals (ACHs) will receive a $2.4 billion increase in payment rates in 2018 and see a relaxation in some reporting requirements related to electronic health records (EHRs) under the final...
View ArticlePayers Looking for More Coding Detail
Physical therapists (PTs), take note: the 59 modifier is a potential red flag for the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and commercial payers. The 59 modifier is the code under the...
View ArticleAPTA, Other Health Care Leaders Call for CMS to Rethink Evaluation and...
APTA has joined with more than 150 other health care organizations to let the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) know that while its “Patients Over Paperwork” efforts are appreciated,...
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