(a) For episodes beginning on or before December 31, 2019, an episode with four or fewer visits is paid the national per-visit amount by discipline determined in accordance with §484.215(a) and updated annually by the applicable market basket for each visit type, in accordance with §484.225.

(1) The national per-visit amount is adjusted by the appropriate wage index based on the site of service of the beneficiary.

(2) An amount is added to the low-utilization payment adjustments for low-utilization episodes that occur as the beneficiary's only episode or initial episode in a sequence of adjacent episodes.

(3) For purposes of the home health PPS, a sequence of adjacent episodes for a beneficiary is a series of claims with no more than 60 days without home care between the end of one episode, which is the 60th day (except for episodes that have been PEP-adjusted), and the beginning of the next episode.

(b) For periods beginning on or after January 1, 2020, an HHA receives a national 30-day payment of a predetermined rate for home health services, unless CMS determines at the end of the 30-day period that the HHA furnished minimal services to a patient during the 30-day period.

(1) For each payment group used to case-mix adjust the 30-day payment rate, the 10th percentile value of total visits during a 30-day period of care is used to create payment group specific thresholds with a minimum threshold of at least 2 visits for each case-mix group.

(2) A 30-day period with a total number of visits less than the threshold is paid the national per-visit amount by discipline determined in accordance with §484.215(a) and updated annually by the applicable market basket for each visit type, in accordance with §484.225.

(3) The national per-visit amount is adjusted by the appropriate wage index based on the site of service for the beneficiary.

(c) An amount is added to low-utilization payment adjustments for low-utilization periods that occur as the beneficiary's only 30-day period or initial 30-day period in a sequence of adjacent periods of care. For purposes of the home health PPS, a sequence of adjacent periods of care for a beneficiary is a series of claims with no more than 60 days without home care between the end of one period, which is the 30th day (except for episodes that have been partial payment adjusted), and the beginning of the next episode.

[83 FR 56629, Nov. 13, 2018]