April 16, 2020 / MICHAEL BRADY
The CMS Thursday proposed to increase Medicare payments to inpatient rehabilitation facilities by 2.9%, or $270 million, in 2021.
That figure is based on an estimated 2.5% increase factor plus a 0.4% boost in aggregate payments to peg outlier payments at 3.0% of total payments. 
The agency also suggested applying a 5% cap on wage index decreases from fiscal year 2020 to 2021, as per the Office of Management and Budget’s statistical area delineations.
Under the proposed rule, non-physician clinicians would be allowed to perform service and documentation tasks currently limited to rehabilitation physicians so long as they are within the practitioners’ scope of practice.