CHA News

DHCS Updates Therapy Requirement for Inpatient Acute Rehabilitation

For post-acute leaders, compliance officers, directors of reimbursement  

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The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) announced last week that effective for admission on or after July 1, 2021, the required weekly acute rehabilitation therapy hours will be reduced from 18 hours to 15 hours.  

Inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) must submit the minimum required documentation with the Treatment Authorization Request when requesting acute rehabilitation services, including the preadmission screening documentation, individualized overall plan of care, physician admission order, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services IRF Patient Assessment Instrument.  

This change brings Medi-Cal therapy requirements into alignment with Medicare. DHCS will announce additional updates to admission criteria, and other policies are forthcoming.