2012 Therapy Payment Reforms: Hope Beyond the Hype

The 2012 Medicare Proposed Rule outlines the re-distribution of therapy payments to address CMS and Med Pac concerns regarding the production and delivery of rehab services for Home Health clients. The re-weighting of payment based on visit volumes means that homecare providers will experience a rate increase for low-utilization therapy episodes and a decrease in payment for high-utilization therapy episodes. Both providers and clinicians are perplexed by the proposals; what is the logic in being paid less to deliver more services? In addition, the contract nature of rehab staffing makes adjustments to traditional delivery models more difficult than with employed clinical personnel.
This session will allow you to address these changes with an eye on the Medicare motivations behind the new proposals. These latest attempts to introduce cost and quality controls to therapy care delivery will challenge all providers to re-assess their rehab departments while re-examining the levels of efficiency in these types of programs. By breaking down the new payment system, attendees will understand the goals of the reforms, and learn how SNF rehab care delivery was modified to address identical payment reforms nearly 10 years ago. Also, learn techniques that help you manage clinical care concerns that speak to the very heart of the payment reforms. Don’t believe the hype – you can manage your therapy content and deliver quality care for patients while preparing your agency for future cost and quality refinements.