New Year Brings ESRD Payment Adjustments

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has updated the 2010 composite payment rates for end stage renal disease (ESRD) facilities.

Effective for services provided on or after Jan. 1, 2010, the following changes will be applied to claims from hospital-based and independent dialysis facilities:

An update to the base composite payment rate with a 1 percent increase, resulting in a base rate of $135.15 for both hospital-based and independent renal dialysis facilities.
An update to the drug add-on adjustment for 2010 to the composite payment rate of 15 percent.
An update to the wage index adjustments to reflect the current wage data.
A reduction in the wage index floor from 0.7000 to 0.6500.

Source: MLN Matters article MM6679, and CMS Transmittal 113, Change Request (CR) 6679.