On November 4, CMS finalized Medicare payment policy updates for home health providers that are effective January 1, 2021. The rule includes an overall payment rate increase of $410 million that rural areas will experience as 1.5 percent greater than last year. Other policy updates are related to rural add-on payments, remote patient monitoring, and the home infusion therapy benefit. CMS finalized using the September 14, 2018 OMB Bulletin for delineations for Core-Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs), so several counties changed status as to whether they are rural or urban. CMS included a transition period to mitigate any potential decreases in payments.
