CMS To Raise Medicare Payment for Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities 2% in 2022

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued its Fiscal Year 2022 prospective payment rule for inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPFs).

The final rule, which takes effect October 1, 2021, increases Medicare payment rates for IPFs by 2%. CMS projects total payments to IPFs to increase $80 million in FY 2022 compared to FY 2021.

On top of that, the rule finalizes updates to the IPF Quality Reporting Program (IPF QRP).

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One such update is the COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage Among Healthcare Personnel (HCP) measure, which tracks vaccination coverage among IPF health care employees and will come into play for FY 2023 payment determination.

Additionally, CMS is finalizing its proposal to expand the Follow-up After Hospitalization for Mental Illness (FUH) measure to include patients with substance use disorders (SUDs) for FY 2024 payment determination. The new measure will be called Follow-up After Psychiatric Hospitalization (FAPH).

Plus, in the final rule, CMS also said it is not removing of the Alcohol Use Brief Intervention Provided or Offered and Alcohol Use Brief Intervention (SUB-2/2a) measure or the Tobacco Use Treatment Provided or Offered and Tobacco Use Treatment (TOB-2/2a) measure in response to public comments on the proposal.

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The final rule also updates the IPF teaching policy with respect to residents who have been displaced due to hospital and teaching program closures, “aligning IPF teaching policy with changes that the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) finalized in the FY 2021 IPPS/[Long Term Care Hospital] PPS final rule.”

You can read the full FY 2022 IPF Prospective Payment System (PPS) Final Rule here. You can find CMS’s fact sheet on the rule here.