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Medicare will pay home health agencies (HHAs) a 2.8% average increase for 2006, reflecting a 3.4% increase for rural HHAs and a 2.5% increase for urban agencies. The HHA prospective payment system (PPS) pays at higher rates to care for those patients with greater needs. Payment rates are based on relevant data from patient assessments (the Outcome and Assessment Information Set or OASIS). Home health payment rate updates are based on annual changes in the home health market basket.
Medicare HHA data for 2001 and 2002 reveals that speech-language pathology visits represent approximately 3% of all HHA therapy visits (SLP/PT/OT). When a patient’s total visits are less than five, Medicare bypasses PPS and pays per visit only. The 2006 per visit home health payment rates (geographically adjusted) are:
Speech-language pathology $120.73
Occupational therapy $111.85
Physical therapy $111.10
For further information, please contact Mark Kander, ASHA’s Director of Health Care Regulatory Analysis, via e-mail at mkander@asha.org or at 800-498-2071, ext. 4139.
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