Harmony Healthcare International (HHI) Offers Complimentary FY 2017 Final Rule Webinar on August 19 at 1:00 PM Eastern
Topsfield, MA (PRWEB) August 15, 2016 -- On July 29, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule outlining fiscal year (FY) 2017 Medicare payment policies and rates for the Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System (SNF PPS), the SNF Quality Reporting Program (SNF QRP), and the SNF Value-Based Purchasing (SNF VBP) Program.
“SNFs are facing a long and rough ride ahead with changes and challenges that will impact payroll-based journal reporting, Five-Star ratings, value-based purchasing, quality reporting and QAPI,” said Kris Mastrangelo, OTR/L, LNHA, MBA, President and CEO of Harmony Healthcare International (HHI), “It is a shift from volume to value.”
According to CMS, the administration has set measurable goals and a timeline to move the Medicare program, and the health care system, toward paying providers based on the quality, rather than the quantity of care they provide to their patients.
“The goal of these new final rule policies is to build a health care system that delivers better care, spending health care dollars more wisely, and resulting in healthier people,” added Mastrangelo.
CMS projects that aggregate payments to SNFs will increase in FY 2017 by $920 million, or 2.4 percent, from payments in FY 2016. This estimated increase is attributable to a 2.7 percent market basket increase reduced by 0.3 percentage points, in accordance with the multifactor productivity adjustment required by law.
The FY 2017 Final Rule adopts three measures from the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (the IMPACT Act). SNFs that fail to submit the required quality data to CMS will be subject to a 2 percentage point reduction to the annual market basket percentage update factor for fiscal years beginning with FY 2018.
The quality measures finalized for the FY 2018 payment determination and subsequent years to meet the resource use and other measure domain are as follows:
- Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary - Post-Acute Care (PAC) SNF QRP
- Discharge to Community – PAC SNF QRP
- Potentially Preventable 30-Day Post-Discharge Readmission – SNF QRP.
The quality measure finalized for the FY 2020 payment determination and subsequent years to meet the medication reconciliation domain is:
- Drug Regimen Review Conducted with Follow-Up for Identified Issues. Policies and procedures associated with public reporting are also being finalized, including the reporting timelines, preview period, review and correction of assessment-based and claims-based quality measure data, and the provision of confidential feedback reports to SNFs.
- This final rule specifies the SNF 30-Day Potentially Preventable Readmission Measure, (SNFPPR), as the all-cause, all-condition risk-adjusted potentially preventable hospital readmission measure as required by law.
- Establishing performance standards;
- Establishing baseline and performance periods;
- Adopting a performance scoring methodology; and
- Providing confidential feedback reports to SNFs.
To join Harmony Healthcare International’s Free FY 2017 Final Rule Webinar follow this link to register, space is limited: http://info.harmony-healthcare.com/2017-final-rule-overview-webinar
About Harmony Healthcare International
Harmony Healthcare International (HHI) was founded in 2001. With headquarters in Topsfield, MA, Harmony Healthcare International (HHI) serves clients in the skilled nursing, acute care, home health and assisted living markets with operational and compliance consulting, training and educational programs and talent enrichment services. With a staff of accomplished HealthCARE Specialists who serve as consultants to For-Profit, Not-For-Profit, Standalone and Multi-Facility Chains across the country, Harmony Healthcare International (HHI) has been ranked among the top 5,000 fastest growing private companies in the U.S. for 3 consecutive years by Inc. Magazine. Harmony Healthcare International, “We C.A.R.E. About Care.” Visit us at: http://www.harmony-healthcare.com/. ;.
Media Contact:
Jon A. Di Gesu
Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations
jdigesu(at)harmony-healthcare(dot)com
@JonDiGesu
(O) 978.887.8919 (C) 603.770.5731
Jon Di Gesu, Harmony Healthcare International, http://www.harmony-healthcare.com, +1 603 770 5731, [email protected]
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