Proposed IRF Rule Would End Post-Admission Evals, Expand APP Role

Providers are hopeful that some of the COVID-19 blanket waivers that reduce their burden or expand telehealth services will become permanent, and one wish has tentatively been granted: the 2021 proposed inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) prospective payment system regulation[1] would end the requirement for post-admission physician evaluations.

“We do believe that removing the post-admission physician evaluation would reduce administrative and paperwork burden for both IRF providers and” Medicare administrative contractors, CMS said in the regulation, which was published in the Federal Register on April 21. If this provision of the regulation is finalized before the public health emergency ends, rehabilitation physicians may never resume post-admission evaluations. Post-admission evaluations were waived in the April 6 interim final rule, Policy and Regulatory Revisions in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.[2]

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