Home care industry is disappointed with new IPS cost limits

Home health representatives continued to express disappointment last week in the interim payment system cost limits for FY00 published in the Federal Register Aug. 5. The schedules of limitations, which are effective for cost reporting periods beginning on or after Oct. 1, 1999, or until a home health prospective payment system is implemented, increased per-beneficiary limits by a modest 1.7% (see table below). The notice also includes a modest 13-cent increase in per-visit costs to offset costs associated with OASIS. "We are not happy with them in general, and the little pittance they throw at us for OASIS is nothing," said Scott Lara with the Home Care Association of America.