IMPACT Act, VBP, Care Coordination and the SNF Landscape

Now into February, its time to take stock of the Post-Acute/SNF landscape, particularly as the same pertains to the evolutionary policy initiatives in-play and moving forward.  To start, there is little evidence on the horizon of an all-out retreat on the policy changes begat by the ACA.  While some framework is building to “Repeal and Replace” the ACA/Obamacare, the same will leave fundamentally intact, the changes started and wrought by Bundled Payments, Value-Based Purchasing, and the IMPACT Act.  The Republican majority, a smattering of Democrats, and the incoming Secretary of HHS have signaled support for these initiatives.  Should a Repeal strategy move forward any time soon, these elements, skeletal perhaps or whole in-flesh, will likely remain.

Reviewing thematically, these policy initiatives are centered on an intentional focal shift from episodic, fee-for-service payments to payments based upon performance.  Performance in each element is tied to cost and quality.  The objective is to create better outcomes (quality) in a more efficient manner.  Because these things are government policy, they are clunky – less than simple.  In some cases such as with Value Based Purchasing and readmission measures, the methodology is so cumbersome and disjointed (some diagnoses are OK, some are not) that a layman, even one well-educated, could have a hard time qualifying and quantifying an appropriate readmission (by diagnoses, by risk, etc.).

Below is a quick review of the current policy initiatives and what they mean for 2017 for SNFs.

IMPACT Act: The purpose of the Act is to create standardized reporting of quality measures and cost measures across the post-acute domain (HHAs, SNFs, LTCaH, IRF).  The objectives are to reduce avoidable readmissions to acute care settings and to create standardized, comparable quality measures to identify federal policy improvements and payment consistencies.  CMS of course, uses more floral language regarding the objectives and intent.  Ultimately, the translation of the standardized data allows CMS to target regulatory changes and payment initiatives that reward provider performance and streamline (a bit oxymoronic for government) payment systems (rate equalization models).  Below are the pertinent domains under the IMPACT Act

Quality Measures

• Skin integrity and changes in skin integrity
• Functional status, cognitive function, and changes in function and cognitive function
• Medication reconciliation
• Incidence of major falls
• Transfer of health information and care preferences when an individual transitions

Resource Use and Other Measures

• Resource use measures, including total estimated Medicare spending per beneficiary
• Discharge to community
• All-condition risk-adjusted potentially preventable hospital readmissions rates

Assessments

• Functional status
• Cognitive function and mental status
• Special services, treatments, and interventions
• Medical conditions and co-morbidities
• Impairments
• Other categories required by the Secretary

As is common in current health policy, reimbursement policy and other policy interweaves with laws such as the IMPACT Act.  Value Based Purchasing and  Quality Reporting for SNFs, integrates quality measure reporting and results along with readmission performance with incentives or penalties imputed via Medicare reimbursement for 2018.  Beginning in October of 2016, SNFs began to submit QRP (Quality Reporting) data via the MDS.  The first data collection period concluded on 12/31/16.  The Quality Measures reported and applicable under the IMPACT Act (cross setting measures) are:

• Part A stays with one or more falls with major injury (fracture, joint dislocation, concussion, etc.)
• Percent of residents with new or worsened pressure injuries
• Percent of Long-Term Care Hospital patients with an Admission and Discharge Functional Assessment and a Care Plan that addresses function

The Claims Measures are:

• Discharge to community
• Potential preventable, 30 day post SNF discharge, readmission to hospital events
• SNF Medicare spending per beneficiary

The Quality Measures are the elements that impute, based on performance, a reimbursement penalty in 2018 up to 2% of Medicare payments via a reduction in the SNFs reimbursement (rate) update.

Value Based Purchasing (VBP): SNFs are a tad late to this party as other providers such as hospitals, physicians and home health agencies already have reporting and measurement elements impacting their reimbursement.  Hospitals for example, have DRG specific readmission penalties (penalties applicable to common admitting diagnoses).  For HHAs, a nine state demonstration project is under way linking a series of measures (process, outcomes, claims) from the OASIS with customer satisfaction from the HHCAHPS to reimbursement via an accumulation tied to a Total Performance Score.  The measurement years (data gathered) beget payment changes (plus or minus) in outlying years – 2016 data nets payment adjustments in 2018.  The payment graduation increases over time (2018 = 3%, 2022 = 8%).

For SNFs, the VBP measure is 30 day, all cause, unplanned readmissions to a hospital. The measurement reflects a 30 day window that begins at the point of SNF admission from a hospital.  The 30 day window of measurement spans place of care meaning that the patient need not reside in the SNF for this measurement to still have an impact.  For example, a patient admitted to an SNF, subsequently discharged after 14 days to a HHA and then  readmitted to the hospital on day 22 (post hospital discharge) is considered a “readmission” for SNF VBP purposes.  CMS has offered guidance here regarding diagnoses that are excluded from the readmission measure.  Readers that wish this additional information can contact me via my email (on the Author page of this site) or via a comment to this post.  In either case, please provide a valid email that I can use to forward the information.

To avoid getting too technical in this post, a quick summary of how VBP will work is below (readers with greater interest can contact me as provided above for a copy of a Client Alert our/my firm produced last fall on VBP).

• A SNFs readmission rate is calculated in separate calendar year periods – 2015 and 2017.  The 30 day readmissions (rate) applicable to an SNF is subtracted from the number 1 to achieve the SNFRM (Skilled Nursing Facility Readmission Measure).
• The 2015 rate is called the Improvement Score and the 2017 rate is called the Performance Score.  Both scores are compared against a benchmark for the period applicable.
• The benchmark equals 100 points.  The difference between the two (Improvement and Achievement) correlate to points plotted on a range – the Achievement range and the Improvement range.  The higher of the two scores is used to calculate reimbursement incentives or withholds – performance score.
• Performance scores in terms of points correlate to reimbursement incentives/ withhold.  The maximum reduction or withhold is 2%.  CMS has yet to identify the incentive amount but under law, the amount must be equal in total value to 50-70% of the total withheld.  In effect, we envision a system that imputes a floor of minus 2% with points up to the threshold limit equaling a net of zero (plus 2%) and then climbing above the threshold to the benchmark (national SNF best readmission (average) decile).  This maximum level (and above) is likely to equal 100% of the available incentive.

The 2015 data is already “baked” but 2017 is just beginning. SNFs need to be diligent on monitoring their readmissions as this window is the Improvement opportunity.  Reimbursement impact isn’t until 2019.

Care Coordination: This catch-all phrase is now in “vogue” thanks to the IMPACT Act and VBP, along with the recently released, new Conditions of Participation.  The implication or applicability for Care Coordination is found in the new COPs.  Care Coordination elements are located in 483.21 (a new section) titled Comprehensive Resident-Centered Care Plans.  Specifically, the references to  Discharge Planning (Care Coordination) in this section are implementation elements for the IMPACT Act requirements.  Below are the regulation elements for Care Coordination.

• Requires documentation in the care plan of the resident’s goals for admission, assessment of discharge potential and discharge plan as applicable
• Requires the resident’s discharge summary to include medication reconciliation of discharge meds to admission meds (including OTC)
• Discharge plan must incorporate  a summary of arrangements for post-discharge care including medical and non-medical services plus place of residence
• All policies pertaining to admission, transfer, discharge, etc. must be uniform, regardless of payer source
• Requires the facility to provide to resident/resident’s representative, data from IMPACT Act quality measures to assist in decision-making regarding selection of post-acute providers

The above elements are in Phase 1 meaning providers should be in-compliance by now (regulation took effect 11/28/16).