The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted online tables containing the fiscal year 2014 hospice wage index value rates after filing the wage index and payment rate update in the Federal Register in early August.

Between 2013 and 2014, the wage index decreased in a majority of urban core based statistical area (CBSA) labor markets, according to a spreadsheet developed by the Hospice Association of America that compares wage index values for next year compared to this year.

However, the change between the two years was minimal, whether for an increase in index values or a decrease. Most of the wage index values were slightly under or around 1.0.

A majority of rural CBSAs across all 50 states, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam also saw a minimal negative change in wage index from 2013 to 2014. 

Wage index values greater than or equal to 0.8 are subject to the budget neutrality adjustment factor, CMS said. For the fiscal year 2014 hospice wage index, the BNAF was reduced by a total of 70%.

View the HAA spreadsheet, or access the CMS tables for 2014.

Written by Alyssa Gerace