FY 2021 Skilled Nursing Facility PPS Final Rule Summary

On July 31, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule updating for fiscal year (FY) 2021 the Medicare skilled nursing facility (SNF) payment rates and the SNF Value-Based Purchasing Program (VBP). It will be published in the Federal Register on August 5, 2020. The final rule updates the federal per diem rates under the SNF Prospective Payment System (SNF PPS) by 2.2 percent; updates the wage areas with a transition that limits wage index reductions to 5 percent for FY 2021; modifies the ICD-10 code mappings for patient classification; and makes updates to the SNF VBP Program. No changes are made to the SNF Quality Reporting Program (SNF QRP) or to the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) patient classification methodology.