The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the fiscal year (FY) 2022 inpatient rehabilitation facility prospective payment system (IRF PPS) proposed rule, along with a detailed fact sheet. The proposed rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on April 12, 2021.

Some of the key provisions and proposed policy changes include:

• Increase in net payments of 1.8 percent (or $160 million), relative to FY 2021 payments (CMS is also requesting feedback on whether FY 2019 claims data or FY 2020 claims data should be utilized to update payment rates due to the COVID-19 public health emergency).
• Input requested on a number of potential new quality reporting program (QRP) measures.
• Addition of a new IRF QRP measure: COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage Among Healthcare Personnel beginning in FY 2023 under the IRF QRP.
• Revision to the data for public reporting/use on Care Compare to account for the 2020 QRP reporting waivers.
• Outlier Threshold: CMS proposes to update the outlier threshold amount from $7,906 for FY 2021 to $9,192 for FY 2022.
• Requesting information on revising the measure development and standardized patient ‎assessment data elements (SPADEs) collection to “address gaps in health equity in the IRF ‎QRP.”
• Requesting information on future plans to define digital quality measures for the IRF QRP.

RCPA will review and discuss the proposed rule in the upcoming Outpatient Rehabilitation Committee and Medical Rehabilitation Committee meetings and utilize the feedback in developing comments on this proposed rule. Comments on this proposed rule are due by June 7, 2021.