Home Health & Hospice Week

Reduction takes effect based on episode end date.

Tighten your budget belt another notch — it looks like so-called sequestration cuts may affect your reimbursement sooner than you think.

In a new statement, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services confirms that “Medicare FFS claims with dates-of-service or dates-of-discharge on or after April 1, 2013, will incur a 2 percent reduction in Medicare payment.” That’s thanks to the Budget Control Act of 2011, which required 2 percent sequestration cuts, and President Obama’s subsequent March 1 sequestration order.

But for many home health prospective payment system episodes, that means the cuts are already taking effect. CMS has told the National Association for Home Care & Hospice that the cuts will apply to episodes with end dates of April 1 or later, the trade group reports.

For hospices, the cuts apply to claims based on the “through” date, NAHC relates. Thanks to Medicare’s requirement for hospices to bill monthly, the cuts won’t affect most hospices until next month.

Providers continue to wait and see whether lawmakers will avert the 2 percent cuts before they take effect. But that’s looking less likely as Republicans and Democrats fail to compromise on a budget agreement.