CMS has announced that Medicare payments to nursing homes will increase by approximately $560 million in 2007. The 3.1% increase will be reflected in Medicare payment rates to nursing facilities that furnish certain skilled nursing and rehabilitation care to Medicare beneficiaries. The SNF prospective payment system update notice also outlined several initiatives, including plans to develop an integrated system of post-acute care payment to make payments for similar services consistent regardless of where the service is delivered; encourage the increased use of health IT in the delivery of post-acute care; make information about healthcare pricing and quality accessible and understandable; and accelerate quality improvements for nursing home residents. Read the announcement.
