Section 4137 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 extends the rural add-on policy by providing an increase of 1% of the payment amount made for home health services provided in the ‘‘low population density’’ category for CY 2023. An Office of Inspector General report issued last year found that data was lacking to analyze the effectiveness of the rural add on policy because data was often missing on claims. Home health agencies should continue to report value code 85 and an associated Federal Information Processing System (FIPS) state and county code on all claims. CMS referred providers to the Home Health Claims Processing Manual for more information.
