Home Health & Hospice Week

Counties still eligible for an add-on have dwindled to 17%.

If you’re wondering why your home health agency does — or doesn’t — receive a rural add-on payment, the answer is partly due to how Medicare categorizes your county.

When Congress directed the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to phase out the add-on, here are the categories CMS used, the HHS Office of Inspector General says in a new report on the matter:

1. High utilization: Rural counties in the highest quartile of all counties based on the number of Medicare home health episodes furnished per 100 individuals; 25 percent of rural counties fall into this category.

2. Low population density: Rural counties with a population density of six individuals or fewer per square mile of land area and not included in the “high utilization” category; 17 percent of rural counties fall into this category.

3. All other: Rural counties and equivalent areas not included in either the “high utilization” or “low population density” categories; 58 percent of rural counties fall into this category.