Happy New Year from your Compliance and Regulatory experts at Synergy Care! We know you receive endless communications containing regulatory information and updates – it can be overwhelming and time consuming to decipher. That is why our Synergy Care Regulatory Department is here to provide you with accurate, informative and concise regulatory updates. See below for a “one-stop-shop” review of the most relevant 2022 regulatory updates that directly impact our industry today and into the future!

1.Vaccination Mandate Update

• The United States Supreme Court will hear arguments related to the CMS and OSHA vaccine mandates on January 7, 2022.
• Hearing covers mandates involving Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Alabama.
• The Supreme Court is expected to issue a relatively quick ruling.

2. Medicare Cuts (Parts A & B)

• Bipartisan deal provides full relief from the 2% Medicare sequester cut effecting Part A and Part B payments until 3/30/22. From April 1, 2022 through June 30, 2022 a 1% sequester cut will be in effect. The full 2% cut resumes on 7/01/22.
• Industry lobbying efforts successfully delayed the 4% PAYGO cuts until at least 1/01/23. These cuts would have applied to both Medicare Part A and Part B payments.

3. Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Cuts (Part B)

• 3.75% Evaluation and Management conversion factor cut was reduced to approximately 0.75% for Medicare Part B billing. Lobbying efforts will continue to prevent further cuts in 2023 and beyond.
• Medicare Part B billing for fee schedule services provided by Physical Therapy Assistants (PTAs) and Occupational Therapy Assistants (OTAs) will be reduced by 15% effective 1/01/22. Industry lobbying organizations will continue efforts to eliminate or reduce these cuts.

4. Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM)

• Payment increase of 1.2% (approx. $410 Million) in FY 2022 for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) meeting Quality Reporting Program (QRP) requirements. Most SNFs meet these requirements.
• SNF Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program adjustments for FY2022 were suppressed for payment purposes due to the pandemic. Therefore, all eligible SNFs will be assigned a score of 0 and will receive +1.2% of the negative 2.0% payment clawback; resulting in a decrease of 0.8% to most SNFs.