LeadingAge National Government News: July 16, 2025

On July 14, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Calendar Year 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule for public inspection. The purpose of this annual update is to set Medicare Part B reimbursement rates for physician services and outpatient therapy, among other services, and to update or amend other Part B payment and coverage policies effective on or after January 1, 2026. These rates apply to Part B services furnished in a variety of settings, such as physician offices, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and other post-acute care settings, hospices, and patients’ homes.  

The proposed rule includes a temporary rate increase, which is statutorily required by a provision included in the recently enacted Budget Reconciliation bill. CMS has also included telehealth provisions that will be of importance to aging services providers, such as a permanent removal of frequency limitations on furnishing services via telehealth for subsequent nursing facility visits, as well as proposed changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program. A CMS statement regarding the proposal, with links to a series of fact sheets, is available here. LeadingAge will analyze the proposal and provide additional information. The rule will be open for public comment through September 12. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Home Health Agency Provider Preview Reports and Star Rating Preview Reports are updated and available on iQIES. The performance scores for quality measures in the report will be published on the Care Compare tool the October 2025 refresh. Data contained within the Provider Preview Reports are based on OASIS assessment data submitted by agencies from Quarter 1, 2024 through Quarter 4, 2024. Additionally, data for the claims-based measures related to Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) will display data from Quarter 1, 2023 through Quarter 4, 2024 for the Discharge to Community and Quarter 1, 2024 through Quarter 4, 2024 for the Home Health Within-Stay Potentially Preventable Hospitalization measure. The data for the HHCAHPS measures will display data from Quarter 2, 2024 through Quarter 1, 2025. Providers have until August 8, 2025, to review their performance data.   

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued updates to long-term care surveyor resources on July 11 to reflect the transition to iQIES. Updated resources are available in the Downloads section of the CMS Nursing Homes page and include updates to the Long-Term Care Survey Process (LTCSP) Initial Pool Care Areas, Initial Surveys, and LTCSP Interim Revisit Instructions. The LTCSP Mapping Document was also updated on July 1. CMS previously announced a date of July 14 for the launch of the nursing home survey process in iQIES and has been providing training and support to assist state agencies in this transition. 

AARP launched a new dashboard in early July that displays select measures of nursing home data. The dashboard reflects data for calendar quarters one and two of 2025 (January – March and April – June) and includes data on respiratory virus vaccination rates, nurse staffing hours and turnover rates, occupancy rates, for-profit ownership rates, and data on two selected quality measures: antipsychotic usage and pressure ulcers. Data is drawn from the CMS data files and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). AARP has also created state fact sheets that detail respiratory virus cases over the past three months, vaccination rates, staffing levels, antipsychotic usage and pressure ulcer rates, and facility characteristics to include for profit ownership, resident and family councils, total beds, average daily residents, and occupancy rates. The dashboard and state fact sheets will be updated quarterly. 

Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Provider Preview Reports are now available in iQIES. These reports contain provider performance scores for quality measures that will be published on Care Compare with the October 2025 quarterly refresh. Recall that per QSO-25-20-NH, the October update will include changes to the long-stay antipsychotic measure. The October refresh will also include the initial public reporting of three assessment-based measures: Transfer of Health Information to Provider, Transfer of Health Information to the Patient, and COVID-19 Vaccine: Percent of Patients/Residents Who are Up to Date. Providers have until August 14 to review performance data and submit correction requests. 

Here is your Home Health Weekly Recap. 

Here is your Hospice Weekly Recap.  

Here is your Life Plan Community Weekly Recap. 

Here is your Medicaid, HCBS, and PACE Weekly Recap. 

Here is your Nursing Home Weekly Recap. 

Here is your Affordable Housing Weekly Recap.