Rehab facilities see reimbursement increase tied to quality measures

Inpatient rehab facilities will see a 2.2% payment rate increase under the IRF Prospective Payment System in fiscal year 2012. The system will also establish a new quality reporting system authorized by the Affordable Care Act.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced the payment increase Friday as part of its final rule on Medicare payment rates for more than 1,200 freestanding and hospital-based inpatient rehabilitation facilities.

“The final rule extends to the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility payment system a quality reporting program designed to encourage these facilities to adopt practices that will better protect patient safety and prevent hospital-acquired conditions, which is an essential part of providing well-coordinated patient-and-family-centered care,” said CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, M.D.

Under the rule, IRFs will submit data on two quality measures: one for urinary catheter-associated urinary tract infection and one for new or worsening pressure ulcers. An additional one — a 30-day Comprehensive All Cause Risk Standardized Readmission — is still being developed.