CMS proposes appeals process for Medicare patients placed on observation stay
By
Josh Henreckson
Jan 02, 2024
Medicare patients initially admitted to hospitals as inpatients but later reclassified as outpatients under observation would finally have a process to appeal those decisions, thanks to a long-awaited...
AARP endorses bill to eliminate 3-day Medicare stay rule
By
Jessica R. Towhey
Sep 07, 2023
The nation’s largest advocacy group for seniors is again joining providers in pushing Congress to eliminate the three-day requirement that patients must meet before Medicare coverage for a skilled nursing...
Congress should pass this provider-endorsed Medicare bill, and then go further
By
James M. Berklan
Aug 11, 2023
Despite today’s hyper-partisan divisions, there’s one nursing home-focused measure that should be a slam dunk among members of both major political parties.
Federal observation stays ruling ‘an important win’ for residents
By
James M. Berklan
Danielle Brown
Mar 26, 2020
Providers are calling a decision that allows some patients to appeal their observation stay designations “an important win and positive step” forward for long-term care residents.
Bill would credit observation stays toward ‘three-night rule’
By
John Hall
Mar 24, 2015
A bill introduced in Congress on Monday would count all time that Medicare beneficiaries spend under hospital “observation” status toward the three-day inpatient requirement necessary to receive...
Also in the news for Nov. 3, 2014 . . .
Nov 03, 2014
$37 million settlement makes Dignity the latest large hospital system to pay out for observation stay charges … Vibrating insoles could reduce falls among seniors … Audit shows 11,000 unresolved...
Court green-lights charges that a healthcare network underused observation stays
By
Tim Mullaney
Oct 23, 2014
A whistleblower can continue to pursue charges that a Nevada healthcare network routinely admitted people as hospital inpatients when they should have been placed in observation status, a federal appeals...
DOJ forces observation stay showdown
By
James M. Berklan
Sep 01, 2014
Hospitals have been cast in a harsh light by long-term care advocates recently for allegedly over-using “observation stay” status. The practice can ultimately deny some patients subsequent...
Largest US hospital chain to pay $98 million in observation stay case
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 06, 2014
The nation’s largest hospital organization has agreed to a $98 million settlement to resolve charges that it overbilled by admitting individuals as inpatients rather than keeping them under observation,...
Falling short in labeling seniors
By
Elizabeth Newman
May 29, 2014
I’m confident I’m not the only person who has worked in a hospital or long-term care who has heard this conversation about someone elderly who has recently died. “Well, she fell and broke...