The hospice payments effective 10/1/2009 incorporate a 2.1% increase in the base payment, new wage indices, and a new cap for the average payments per beneficiary. (However, the wage index also incorporates a Budget Neutral penalty, reducing the increase to 1.4%)
Your area’s wage index may have changed, so the new net payment may go up or down. Take the labor portion of the rate at the MLN link below and multiply it by your locale’s wage index (found at the August 6 Federal Register), and then add the non-labor portion – to arrive at the new rate for your locale.
The hospice changes may be accessed at the following link.
The August 6 Federal Register can be found here.
Posted by rvaks 