SNF Medicare Funding Proposal

On April 11, CMS announced it was proposing a decrease in Medicare funding to SNFs, according to an article in Skilled Nursing News. CMS’s Proposed $320M Decrease in Nursing Home Medicare Funding Could Be ‘Ruinous’ for Struggling Operators

The federal government on Monday proposed its payment rate update to nursing home reimbursements for fiscal 2023, which includes a 4.6% cut related to the Patient-Driven Payment Model.

That cut from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) amounts to a total loss of $320 million, according to the agency.

CMS – in its SNF Prospective Payment System proposed rule – recommended a 3.9%, or $1.4 billion, payment increase to the industry. The government agency arrived at that number by raising the market basket rate for skilled nursing facilities by 2.8%, a 1.5 percentage point forecast error adjustment and a 0.4-percentage-point multifactor productivity adjustment.

The article goes into detail about the CMS position, what is driving it and the impact it would have on the industry.  The CMS release about their proposal and the comment period is available here: Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule (CMS 1765-P).

The Skilled Nursing News article also notes that CMS is looking for feedback on the issue of staffing standards. For more info on the staffing standards, see the CMS news release, HHS Takes Actions to Promote Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes.