CMS Corrects Medicare Rates
On Oct. 3, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a correction notice tweaking the previously published wage index calculations. The correction impacts Medicare Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System (SNF PPS) rates in three regions: New York City Metro, Rochester, and Glens Falls. In each of these regions, the wage index is decreased by .0001, which results in a decrease of 4-6 cents in the higher RUG category rates and 2-3 cents in most lower RUG categories. Other regions are not impacted. An updated rate list reflecting the correction is available here. LeadingAge has also incorporated the correction into the SNF PPS calculator available here. The corrected rates are effective Oct. 1st.
The New York City Metro region is comprised of the five New York City boroughs as well as Orange, Rockland, and Westchester counties.
The Rochester region is comprised of Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Wayne, and Yates counties.
The Glens Falls region is comprised of Warren and Washington counties.
In the publication, CMS also addressed several other minor errors that did not impact rates. These included correcting amounts displayed in the Total column of Tables 7 and 8 of the published Final Rule and the correction of two incorrect labels. The text of the correction notice, CMS-1696-CN, is available here.
Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841