CMS to resume hospital appeals settlements

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday announced it will again allow eligible hospitals to settle inpatient status claims under appeal, adding that details will be released soon. The announcement comes just days before the agency was scheduled to appear in federal court to explain, in a case brought by the AHA and three hospital organizations, why the court should not immediately issue an order to compel the Department of Health and Human Services to meet its congressionally mandated deadlines for reviewing Medicare claims denials. The court this month denied the agency’s request for a stay of the case until Sept. 30, 2017, finding that the efforts of the Secretary to date do not demonstrate meaningful progress toward reducing the appeals backlog and complying with the statutory deadlines.