AHA comments on potential new SNF payment system

Commenting today on a potential alternative to Medicare’s current “RUGs” payment system for skilled nursing facility services, AHA said the proposed “RCS-1” replacement model would generally promote the strengths of hospital-based SNFs but called on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to work with the field to further develop the model before advancing the proposal. “While the AHA supports the broad direction of RCS-1, we encourage CMS to first address key elements of the model that still require further development prior to proposing implementation of the new model,” wrote Ashley Thompson, AHA senior vice president for public policy analysis and development.