# 2025-06298: Psych Hospitals Get Medicare Rate Bump for 2026 2025-06298, Medicare Program; FY 2026 Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Prospective Payment System-Rate Update, is a Federal Register proposed rule from Health and Human Services Department, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published 2025-04-30, effective 2025-10-01; deemed significant under Executive Order 12866; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-14). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2025-06298 - As of: 2026-10-14 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Document number: 2025-06298 - Title: Medicare Program; FY 2026 Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Prospective Payment System-Rate Update - Type: Proposed Rule - Agencies: Health and Human Services Department; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services - Citation: 90 FR 18494 - Published: 2025-04-30 - Effective: 2025-10-01 - Comments close: not stated - Significant: yes (FR_METADATA) - Touches household money: yes - Regulation identifier numbers: 0938-AV46 - Last updated: 2026-10-14 ## In one line Psych Hospitals Get Medicare Rate Bump for 2026 ## Summary Starting October 1, 2025, Medicare is updating how it pays inpatient psychiatric hospitals, including changes to rates, wage adjustments, and special payments for teaching and rural facilities. These updates aim to better support mental health care providers and improve quality reporting. If you want to share your thoughts, make sure to comment by June 10, 2025! ## Abstract This rulemaking proposes to update the prospective payment rates, the outlier threshold, and the wage index for Medicare inpatient hospital services provided by Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities (IPFs), which include psychiatric hospitals and excluded psychiatric units of an acute care hospital or critical access hospital. This rulemaking also proposes to revise the payment adjustment factors for teaching status and for IPFs located in rural areas. These proposed changes would be effective for IPF discharges occurring during the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. We are proposing to make changes to measures used in the Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Quality Reporting (IPFQR) Program, to update and codify the Extraordinary Circumstances Exception policy, and to solicit feedback through requests for information on future changes to the IPFQR Program. ## Effects PRIA read - Higher FY2026 IPF Per‑Diem and ECT Rates: benefit, medium. If you operate an Inpatient Psychiatric Facility (IPF), CMS proposes to raise the Federal per diem base rate from $876.53 to $891.99 and the electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) payment per treatment from $661.52 to $673.19 for discharges on or after October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. CMS estim… - Reduced Updates for Non‑Reporting IPFs: cost, medium. If your IPF fails to report required quality data, CMS proposes reducing the FY2026 update so the Federal per diem base rate would be $874.57 (instead of $891.99) and the ECT payment per treatment would be $660.04. This reduction reflects the statutory 2.0 percentage point penalty applied to IPFs t… - Wage Index, Labor Share, Outlier Threshold Changes: mixed, low. CMS proposes technical payment-setting changes for FY2026: the labor‑related share would change from 78.8% to 78.9%, the wage index budget neutrality factor would be 1.0011, a refinement standardization factor of 0.9927 would be applied, and the fixed dollar loss (outlier) threshold would increase… - IPFQR Measure Removals and ECE Policy Update: benefit, low. CMS proposes changes to the Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Quality Reporting (IPFQR) Program: modify the reporting period for the 30‑Day Risk‑Standardized All‑Cause ED Visit measure; remove these measures—COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage Among Healthcare Personnel, Facility Commitment to Health Equi… - Standardized Patient Assessment Data Requirement (RY 2028+): cost, medium. Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 changes cited by CMS, IPFs must collect and submit standardized patient assessment data using a standardized instrument for rate years beginning in FY 2028 and each subsequent rate year (at least admission and discharge). CMS also must implement payme… ## Related documents - [2026-20281](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-20281): Global Benchmark for Efficient Drug Pricing (GLOBE) Model, 2026-10-02 - [2026-20131](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-20131): Medicare Program; Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Prospective Payment System for Federal Fiscal Year 2027 and Updates to the IRF Quality…, 2026-10-01 - [2026-19959](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-19959): Medicare Program; Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities; Updates to the Quality Reporting Prog…, 2026-09-30 - [2026-20067](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-20067): Medicare Program; FY 2027 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements; Correction, 2026-09-30 - [2026-19946](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-19946): Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals (IPPS) and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospectiv…, 2026-09-29 - [2026-15652](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-15652): Medicare Program; Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Prospective Payment System for Federal Fiscal Year 2027 and Updates to the IRF Quality…, 2026-08-03 ## Sources - [2025-06298 on federalregister.gov](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/30/2025-06298/medicare-program-fy-2026-inpatient-psychiatric-facilities-prospective-payment-system-rate-update) - [2025-06298 as published (PDF)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-04-30/pdf/2025-06298.pdf) ## Related - [Previous: 2025-06271, Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care…](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2025-06271) - [Next: 2025-06317, Medicare Program; FY 2026 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospic…](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2025-06317) - [All Federal Register documents](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2025-06298 (as of 2026-10-14).