Hospitals now will have 29 rather than 10 diagnosis related groups that Medicare will pay them less for if they discharge to home care. In its Aug. 1 final 2004 inpatient payment rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services deletes two DRGs from the old list of 10 affected codes and adds 21 new ones. Under the post-acute transfer policies, certain discharges to post-acute settings, including home care, qualify as a "transfer" for payment purposes rather than a discharge. The net result is that hospitals get a per diem rate for the care rather than the full DRG payment. That means hospitals may be more reluctant to discharge patients with the affected diagnoses to home care. Post-acute transfer rules will apply to the following DRGs starting Oct. 1, 2003:
Editor's Note: The rule is at www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a030801c.html.