On July 6, 2012, CMS has released its Home Health PPS Rule for calendar year (CY) 2013.  The proposed rule, available by clicking here, also addresses survey and enforcement requirements for home health agencies (HHAs), and extends certain requirements of the hospice quality reporting program to subsequent years.  According to the CMS press release, available here, payments to HHAs will be reduced by 0.1 percent, or $20 million, in CY 2013.  The rule proposes to rebase and revise the home health market basket and includes a proposal to permit no-physician practitioners at acute or post-acute facilities to perform the face-to-face encounter in collaboration with or under the supervision of the patient’s treating physician. 

Reporter, Susan Banks, Washington, D.C., +1 202 626 2953, sbanks@kslaw.com.