Medicare rates for skilled nursing facilities will increase 4.2% in fiscal 2025 under a final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published Wednesday.
That's higher than the 4.1% reimbursement increase CMS proposed in March. Payments for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 are based on a 3% increase in the skilled nursing facility market basket minus a 0.5 percentage point productivity adjustment and plus a 1.7 percentage point boost to correct previous forecasts.
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The final rule also includes new policies to tighten enforcement of nursing home health and safety violations. Under the regulation, CMS and state regulators may concurrently levy fines on per instance and per day bases for the same deficiencies.
The nursing home sector is under financial strain driven by what the industry characterizes as inadequate Medicaid reimbursements, staffing shortages and other challenges. And skilled nursing facilities are facing down a federal staffing mandate CMS finalized in April, when it estimated the regulation would cost nursing home operators $40.6 billion over a decade.
The American Health Care Association opposed the staffing rule and sued to block it, and a growing number of lawmakers is eyeing a legislative effort to repeal the policy.
In separate final rules published Wednesday, CMS announced that inpatient rehabilitation facilities will receive a 3% Medicare pay hike and inpatient psychiatric facilities will get a 2.8% raise, both greater than what the agency proposed in March.
