Home Health & Hospice Week

March report to Congress will contain latest guidance.

It may be no surprise, but it’s still bad news. In its Jan. 13 meeting, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission officially approved recommendations for cuts and freezes for home health and hospice agency pay rates.

For HHAs, MedPAC voted to recommend that Congress reduce the Medicare base payment rate for home health agencies by 5 percent in 2023. Commissioners and staff discussed the topic at length in the advisory body’s December meeting (see HCW by AAPC, Vol. XXXI, No. 2).

For hospices, MedPAC voted to recommend that Congress eliminate the update to the base payment rates and wage adjust and reduce the hospice aggregate cap by 20 percent for 2023.

Commissioners also voted to recommend the requirement of detailed telehealth reporting on claims for both provider types. The recommendations will go in MedPAC’s annual March report to Congress.

“While we are encouraged by the recommendations to create a mechanism by which home health and hospice agencies can accurately report telehealth encounters, [the National Association for Home Care & Hospice] continues to strongly oppose rate reductions to both home health and hospice base payment rates,” the trade group says.