Hospice News August 12, 2020
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should revamp its use of the hospital wage index to determine payments for health care providers, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General. The agency uses the index among other information to calculate hospice per diems paid by Medicare.
The proposed action was No. 3 on the OIG’s list of its Top 25 so-far unimplemented recommendations this year. Data from the hospital wage index data enables CME to adjust payments to hospices in different geographic regions based on estimated labor costs.
“OIG identified significant vulnerabilities in the wage index system for Medicare payments. For instance, CMS lacks...
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