On the first of this month, President Obama signed into law the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014. The measure extends a multitude of provisions that were set to expire and also incorporates many provisions that may...more
As we discussed in a Payment Matters article dated December 13, 2012, providers have enjoyed repeated success in challenging the Secretary’s position regarding Medicare Part C days and where those days belong in the Medicare...more
As we reported in a Payment Matters article dated April 18, 2013, in Nazareth Hosp. et al. v. Sebelius (“Nazareth”), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania overturned CMS’s rejection of...more
Medicare’s “incident to” provision found at 42 U.S.C. § 1395x(s)(2)(A) addresses coverage of services and supplies furnished “incident to a physician’s professional service,” principally in a physician’s office or clinic....more
As part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA), Congress enacted a number of payment reforms designed to curb the growth of expenditures under Medicare Part B. One of the more notable of those provisions was the Sustainable...more
In the fiscal year 2014 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rule (the “final rule”), CMS explained the new disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payment methodology that took effect this October 1. As we reported in...more
In the fiscal year 2014 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rule published in the Federal Register on August 19, 2013, CMS took two steps of note regarding the Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH)...more
As reported in previous Payment Matters articles (6/11/08, 4/4/13 and 6/27/13), the United States District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled in two separate opinions that a Medicare contractor is not permitted to...more
In a decision handed down on July 23, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the use by CMS of outside contractors to determine whether a home health agency’s reimbursement claims had exhibited a...more
In its OPPS proposed rule published July 19, 2013 [PDF], at Fed. Reg. 43534-43707, CMS proposed significant changes and clarifications to its current policy. Among the most notable changes are the four discussed below...more
As we reported in a Payment Matters article dated February 16, 2012, early last year the United States District Court for the District of Columbia handed providers a significant victory in Catholic Health Initiatives-Iowa v....more
Over the years, CMS and its contractors have wrestled with how days approved under a Medicaid demonstration project should be counted, if at all, for purposes of the Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) calculation....more
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s opinion in Nazareth Hosp. v. Sebelius, slip op. no. 10-3513 furnished a surprising victory to two providers that challenged the calculation of the...more
For the last several years, hospitals and the government have fought hard over where days associated with certain “dual eligible” patients should be placed in the Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) calculation. At...more
CMS has often argued that “base year” determinations cannot be revisited once the three-year reopening period has closed. Now, a recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit places those...more
For many years, CMS policy has been that, if an inpatient admission was denied for medical necessity reasons, the hospital could bill under Part B for only a limited set of services that, significantly, did not include...more
Under the Medicare statute and implementing regulation, providers have 180 days from the issuance of a Notice of Program Reimbursement (NPR) in which to file an appeal to the Provider Reimbursement Review Board (PRRB). This...more
In recent times, the provider community has enjoyed success in challenging the Secretary’s interpretation of the Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) adjustment provisions and what, the providers have maintained,...more
The recently passed fiscal cliff legislation, i.e., the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (Act) [PDF], includes a number of provisions addressing Medicare and Medicaid. One of these provisions extends the recovery period...more
In a 2011 decision, Northeast Hospital Corp. v. Sebelius, 657 F. 3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2011), the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled for the providers in a challenge to the Secretary’s...more