CMS provides eligibility relief for hospitals

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently provided hospitals with new Medicare blanket waivers to address the COVID-19 public health emergency. The waivers expand hospitals' ability to offer swing-bed services for patients who do not require acute care but do meet the skilled nursing facility level-of-care criteria. This waiver provides additional options in the case where hospitals are unable to find placement in SNFs.

The policy also provides relief by waiving, for the duration of the public health emergency, eligibility requirements for the following: 

• hospitals classified as sole community hospitals, in which CMS waived distance, market-share and applicable bed requirements; and 
• hospitals classified as Medicare-dependent, small rural hospitals, in which CMS waived eligibility requirements that the hospital has 100 or fewer beds during the cost reporting period and at least 60% of the hospital's inpatient days or discharges were attributable to individuals entitled to Medicare Part A benefits during the specified hospital cost reporting periods.

Both eligibility waivers are intended to assist hospitals in meeting their communities' needs, including increasing hospital capacity and promoting COVID-19 patients' appropriate cohorting.