CMS Announces 2.2% Payment Update and Scope-in-Practice Changes for 2021

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will update the Medicare payment rate for the Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Prospective Payment System (IPF PPS) by 2.2% in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, the agency announced in a final rule late Friday. In its April proposed rule, CMS had estimated a 2.4% payment rate update for IPFs next year. The agency included its updated estimates and calculations in a fact sheet accompanying Friday’s final rule. According to the rule, CMS will allow advanced practice providers, including physician assistants, nurse practitioners, psychologists, and clinical nurse specialists, to operate within the scope of practice allowed by state law by documenting progress notes in the medical record of patients for whom they are responsible, receiving services in psychiatric hospitals. NABH has advocated for this policy change and is pleased the agency made this update. CMS also finalized its proposal to adopt revised Office of Management and Budget (OMB) statistical area delineations resulting in wage index values that the agency said are “more representative of the actual costs of labor in a given area.”