Proposed Home Health Rates 2015

On Wednesday we published an Email Blast about the Proposed Home Health PPS Rates for 2015.  This is the second article about the Proposed PPS Rates.  Today we will list the actual episode payment rates, LUPA payment rates and Non Routine Medical Supply Rates.  Look for more Email Blast next week about the Proposed Home Health PPS Rules and Rates for 2015.

Proposed Base Urban Episode Rates Before Case Mix and Wage Index Adjustments
Description	2015	2014	Variance	% Variance
Standard Episode Payment Rate	$2,922.76	$2,869.27	$53.49	1.86%

Proposed LUPA Rates Urban Agencies Before Wage Index Adjustments
Description	2015	2014	Variance	% Variance
Skilled Nursing	$127.81	$121.10	$6.71	5.54%
Physical Therapy	$139.73	$132.40	$7.33	5.54%
Occupational Therapy	$140.68	$133.30	$7.38	5.54%
Speech Pathology	$151.85	$143.88	$7.97	5.54%
Medical Social Work	$204.87	$194.12	$10.75	5.54%
Home Health Aide	$57.88	$54.84	$3.04	5.54%

Proposed LUPA Add-On Payment Amounts Before Wage Index Adjustments
Description	Base 2015 Rate	Add-On Factor	Revised Rate 1st Visit
Skilled Nurse makes initial visit	$127.81	1.8541	$236.97
Physical Therapist makes initial visit	$139.73	1.6700	$233.35
Speech Pathologist makes initial visit	$151.85	1.6266	$247.00

Proposed Non-Routine Medical Supply Base Rate
Description	2015	2014	Variance	% Variance
Medical Supply Base Rate	$53.28	$53.65	($0.37)	(0.69%)

Proposed 2014 Non-Routine Medical Supply
Severity	Points	Relative Weight	Proposed NRS Payment Amount
1	0	0.2698	$14.37
2	1 to 14	0.9742	$51.91
3	15 to 27	2.6712	$142.32
4	28 to 48	3.9686	$211.45
5	49 to 98	6.1198	$326.06
6	99+	10.5254	$560.79

Remember that all rates must be adjusted for urban and rural home health agencies.  LUPA Rates and Episodes Rates must be adjusted by wage index.   Episode rates must be adjusted by wage index and case mix.  Home health agencies that do not submit quality data will receive an additional 2 percent cut in payments. 

We will have much more on the proposed home health payment rules and rates for 2015 in future email alerts.  We have scheduled a Home Health Webinar titled “Understanding the Proposed Home Health PPS Rules & Rates for 2015” for July 31, 2014 from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm EDT.  The webinar will be held Live, but will be available later on demand because it will be recorded.

The proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register on July 7, 2014. We have a temporary link to the proposed rule below:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2014-15736.pdf