The CMS proposed a 0.3% rate increase for end-stage renal disease services for 2016. The proposal also modifies Medicare's quality incentive program for dialysis providers.
Overall, Medicare spending under the ESRD prospective payment system is expected to be flat at $9 billion in calendar year 2016 compared with 2015. The CMS said in a draft rule issued Friday that the rate increase would amount to an additional $20 million in Medicare payments to dialysis facilities over 2015.
The regulations would also make changes to the payment system's quality incentive program that links a portion of payments to a facility's performance on quality measures. Payments are reduced by up to 2% for dialysis providers that fall short of a certain score.
Changes to the program in the proposed rule include the addition of more quality-of-life measures in 2018. In 2019, the agency intends to replace four measures of dialysis adequacy with a single comprehensive measure.
The CMS is accepting comments on the proposed rule until Aug. 25.
There are more than 6,000 ESRD centers the U.S., and they performed 40 million dialysis treatments in 2013, the last year data is available for, according to the CMS.
