Morgan Keegan Discusses Proposed Increase in Rehab Hospital Medicare Rate for 2012

Morgan Keegan released a Healthcare Reimbursement Alert explaining the new proposed rehabilitation hospital Medicare rate for 2012. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services “proposes an average 1.8% Medicare rate increase per discharge.” Rehab hospitals will also have to deal with new quality reporting requirements but Morgan Keegan believes large providers will have no problem meeting the new requirements. Next year's increase of 1.8% is less than this year's increase of 2.16% and should not adversely affect big providers like HealthSouth HLS and RehabCare Group RHB. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services plans to finalize the rules by late July or early August.