The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation released a report to Congress outlining a unified payment model for long-term care hospitals, rehab facilities, nursing homes and home health agencies. The new payment system would base payments on several factors related to the cost of care and unify payments into three general categories: rehabilitation, medical diagnosis and medical management, teaching and assessment. The proposal is receiving heavy criticism from industry leaders who are pointing out that the model has the potential to endanger access to care, especially for the most critically ill patients.