Berwick: Three-night rule should go

Add former Medicare chief Donald Berwick to the growing list of critics of a federal rule requiring three consecutive nights’ stay as a hospital inpatient to qualify for Medicare nursing home coverage.

Berwick said he considered scrapping the rule when he was acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services earlier this decade. Providers hailed his sentiments, which appeared in the Boston Globe.

“We are encouraged by Dr. Berwick’s public comments,” said AHCA President and CEO Mark Parkinson. 

CMS has proposed a rule saying inpatient status should usually be conferred for stays longer than two midnights. Congress is considering a bill to eliminate the three-night inpatient requirement entirely.