CMS issues FY 2023 final rule for inpatient rehabilitation facilities

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today issued a final rule for the inpatient rehabilitation facility prospective payment system for fiscal year 2023 with an estimated net increase of 3.2% ($275 million). This update includes a market basket increase of 4.2% less a 0.3 percentage point productivity adjustment. The proposed market basket was 3.2% and the proposed productivity cut was 0.4 percentage points. The final update also includes a 0.6 percentage point cut for high-cost outlier payments. In addition, as proposed, CMS finalized a 5% cap on wage index decreases to mitigate instability in IRF PPS payments.

CMS also finalized its proposal to require IRFs to collect quality data on all patients, regardless of payer, but delayed the implementation date until October 2023. The agency estimates that the additional reporting burden will cost IRFs over $31 million per year (an average of nearly $29,000 per IRF). CMS did not propose any other changes to the IRF Quality Reporting Program.