CMS Publishes RY 2009 Payment and Policy Changes for Long-Term Care Hospitals

On May 9, 2008, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a Final Rule in the Federal Register establishing rate year (RY) 2009 payment rates and policies for the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for inpatient hospital services provided by long-term care hospitals (LTCH).

According to CMS, the Final Rule will increase the standard Federal rate for LTCHs by 2.7 percent and establish a standard Federal rate for the 2009 LTCH PPS rate year of $39,114.36 for discharges occurring during the 15 month period from July 1, 2008 through September 30. 2009.  Under the Final Rule, CMS estimates that aggregate LTCH PPS payments for RY 2009 to be approximately $4.47 billion. CMS reports that this is an increase of approximately $110 million (or 2.5 percent) over estimated payments in RY 2008.