(a) Method of payment.
(1) Under the prospective payment system, inpatient rehabilitation facilities receive a predetermined amount per discharge for inpatient services furnished to Medicare Part A fee-for-service beneficiaries.
(2) The amount of payment under the prospective payment system is based on the Federal payment rate, including adjustments described in § 412.624 and, if applicable, during a transition period, on a blend of the Federal payment rate and the facility-specific payment rate described in § 412.626.
(3) IRF coverage criteria. In order for an IRF claim to be considered reasonable and necessary under section 1862(a)(1) of the Act, there must be a reasonable expectation that the patient meets all of the following requirements at the time of the patient's admission to the IRF—
(i) Except for care furnished to patients in a freestanding IRF hospital solely to relieve acute care hospital capacity in a state (or region, as applicable) that is experiencing a surge during the Public Health Emergency, as defined in § 400.200 of this chapter, requires the active and ongoing therapeutic intervention of multiple therapy disciplines (physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, or prosthetics/orthotics therapy), one of which must be physical or occupational therapy.
(ii) Except during the emergency period described in section 1135(g)(1)(B) of the Act, generally requires and can reasonably be expected to actively participate in, and benefit from, an intensive rehabilitation therapy program. Under current industry standards, this intensive rehabilitation therapy program generally consists of at least 3 hours of therapy (physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, or prosthetics/orthotics therapy) per day at least 5 days per week. In certain well-documented cases, this intensive rehabilitation therapy program might instead consist of at least 15 hours of intensive rehabilitation therapy per week. Benefit from this intensive rehabilitation therapy program is demonstrated by measurable improvement that will be of practical value to the patient in improving the patient's functional capacity or adaptation to impairments. The required therapy treatments must begin within 36 hours from midnight of the day of admission to the IRF.
(iii) Except for care furnished to patients in a freestanding IRF hospital solely to relieve acute care hospital capacity in a state (or region, as applicable) that is experiencing a surge during the Public Health Emergency, as defined in § 400.200 of this chapter, is sufficiently stable at the time of admission to the IRF to be able to actively participate in the intensive rehabilitation therapy program that is described in paragraph (a)(3)(ii) of this section.
(iv) Except for care furnished to patients in a freestanding IRF hospital solely to relieve acute care hospital capacity in a state (or region, as applicable) that is experiencing a surge during the Public Health Emergency, as defined in § 400.200 of this chapter, requires physician supervision by a rehabilitation physician. The requirement for medical supervision means that the rehabilitation physician must conduct face-to-face visits with the patient at least 3 days per week throughout the patient's stay in the IRF to assess the patient both medically and functionally, as well as to modify the course of treatment as needed to maximize the patient's capacity to benefit from the rehabilitation process, except that during a Public Health Emergency, as defined in § 400.200 of this chapter, such visits may be conducted using telehealth services (as defined in section 1834(m)(4)(F) of the Act). Beginning with the second week of admission to the IRF, a non-physician practitioner who is determined by the IRF to have specialized training and experience in inpatient rehabilitation may conduct 1 of the 3 required face-to-face visits with the patient per week, provided that such duties are within the non-physician practitioner's scope of practice under applicable state law.
(4) Documentation. Except for care furnished to patients in a freestanding IRF hospital solely to relieve acute care hospital capacity in a state (or region, as applicable) that is experiencing a surge during the Public Health Emergency, as defined in § 400.200 of this chapter, to document that each patient for whom the IRF seeks payment is reasonably expected to meet all of the requirements in paragraph (a)(3) of this section at the time of admission, the patient's medical record at the IRF must contain the following documentation—
(i) A comprehensive preadmission screening that meets all of the following requirements—
(A) It is conducted by a licensed or certified clinician(s) designated by a rehabilitation physician within the 48 hours immediately preceding the IRF admission. A preadmission screening that includes all of the required elements, but that is conducted more than 48 hours immediately preceding the IRF admission, will be accepted as long as an update is conducted in person or by telephone to update the patient's medical and functional status within the 48 hours immediately preceding the IRF admission and is documented in the patient's medical record.
(B) It includes a detailed and comprehensive review of each patient's condition and medical history, including the patient's level of function prior to the event or condition that led to the patient's need for intensive rehabilitation therapy, expected level of improvement, and the expected length of time necessary to achieve that level of improvement; an evaluation of the patient's risk for clinical complications; the conditions that caused the need for rehabilitation; the treatments needed (that is, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, or prosthetics/orthotics); and anticipated discharge destination.
(C) It serves as the basis for the initial determination of whether or not the patient meets the requirements for an IRF admission to be considered reasonable and necessary in paragraph (a)(3) of this section.
(D) It is used to inform a rehabilitation physician who reviews and documents his or her concurrence with the findings and results of the preadmission screening prior to the IRF admission.
(E) It is retained in the patient's medical record at the IRF.
(ii) An individualized overall plan of care for the patient that meets all of the following requirements—
(A) It is developed by a rehabilitation physician with input from the interdisciplinary team within 4 days of the patient's admission to the IRF.
(B) It is retained in the patient's medical record at the IRF.
(5) Interdisciplinary team approach to care. Except for care furnished to patients in a freestanding IRF hospital solely to relieve acute care hospital capacity in a state (or region, as applicable) that is experiencing a surge during the Public Health Emergency, as defined in § 400.200 of this chapter, in order for an IRF claim to be considered reasonable and necessary under section 1862(a)(1) of the Act, the patient must require an interdisciplinary team approach to care, as evidenced by documentation in the patients' medical record of weekly interdisciplinary team meetings that meet all of the following requirements—
(i) The team meetings are led by a rehabilitation physician and further consist of a registered nurse with specialized training or experience in rehabilitation; a social worker or case manager (or both); and a licensed or certified therapist from each therapy discipline involved in treating the patient. All team members must have current knowledge of the patient's medical and functional status. The rehabilitation physician may lead the interdisciplinary team meeting remotely via a mode of communication such as video or telephone conferencing.
(ii) The team meetings occur at least once per week throughout the duration of the patient's stay to implement appropriate treatment services; review the patient's progress toward stated rehabilitation goals; identify any problems that could impede progress towards those goals; and, where necessary, reassess previously established goals in light of impediments, revise the treatment plan in light of new goals, and monitor continued progress toward those goals.
(iii) The results and findings of the team meetings, and the concurrence by the rehabilitation physician with those results and findings, are retained in the patient's medical record.
(b) Payment in full.
(1) The payment made under this subpart represents payment in full (subject to applicable deductibles and coinsurance as described in subpart G of part 409 of this subchapter) for inpatient operating and capital-related costs associated with furnishing Medicare covered services in an inpatient rehabilitation facility, but not for the cost of an approved medical education program described in §§ 413.75 and 413.85 of this chapter.
(2) In addition to payments based on prospective payment rates, inpatient rehabilitation facilities receive payments for the following:
(i) Bad debts of Medicare beneficiaries, as provided in § 413.89 of this chapter; and
(ii) A payment amount per unit for blood clotting factor provided to Medicare inpatients who have hemophilia.
(c) Definitions. As used in this section—
Rehabilitation physician means a licensed physician who is determined by the IRF to have specialized training and experience in inpatient rehabilitation.
State (or region, as applicable) that is experiencing a surge means a state (or region, as applicable) that is in phase 1 of the President's Guidelines for Opening Up America Again (https://www.whitehouse.gov/openingamerica/), specifically, a state (or region, as applicable) that satisfies all of the following, as determined by applicable state and local officials:
(i) All vulnerable individuals continue to shelter in place.
(ii) Individuals continue social distancing.
(iii) Individuals avoid socializing in groups of more than 10.
(iv) Non-essential travel is minimized.
(v) Visits to senior living facilities and hospitals are prohibited.
(vi) Schools and organized youth activities remain closed.
Week means a period of 7 consecutive calendar days beginning with the date of admission to the IRF.
[66 FR 41388, Aug. 7, 2001, as amended at 70 FR 47952, Aug. 15, 2005; 74 FR 39811, Aug. 7, 2009; 83 FR 38573,Aug. 6, 2018; 84 FR 39172, Aug. 8, 2019; 85 FR 19287, Apr. 6, 2020; 85 FR 27622, May 8, 2020; 85 FR 48462, Aug. 10, 2020; 85 FR 59023, Sept. 18, 2020]