CMS Final Rule Updates 2019 Medicare Payment Rates and Wage Index for Hospices

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a final rule that updates the 2019 Medicare payment rates and wage index for hospices servicing Medicare beneficiaries. Under the rule, hospices will receive a 1.8 percent ($340 million) increase in payments for 2019. The new payment system includes a statutory aggregate cap of $29,205.44 that limits the overall payments made to a hospice annually.

Also included in the final rule are updates to the hospice quality reporting program requirements that reduce payments by 2 percent if hospices fail to meet those requirements; finalized procedural policies, including a review and correction timeframes for data submitted using the hospice item set; and specific updates and improvements to hospice, including the public display of hospice item set-based hospice comprehensive assessment measure and hospice visits when death is imminent.

Lastly, the final rule recognizes that as of 2019, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 allows physician assistants to be recognized along with physicians and nurse practitioners as attending physicians for Medicare hospice beneficiaries.