CMS gives psychiatric facilities $100 million Medicare raise

Inpatient psychiatric facility payments will increase by 2.2 percent, or $100 million, under the Medicare payment and policy changes for fiscal year 2017.

The bump in Medicare reimbursement is bigger than what CMS gave in 2016, when payments were increased by 1.5 percent, or $80 million.

The CMS notice—the changes were said to be small enough not to need to go through the formal rulemaking process—also includes an update to the facilities’ wage index for 2017. As part of the implementation of the 2016 payment rule, the rural adjustment for inpatient psychiatric facilities will continue being phased out, with affected facilities receiving one-third the adjustment for 2017, the final year the adjustment will be given.