Member
Jul 19, 2004
In June, a group of plaintiffs' lawyers began filing class-action suits in several states against not-for-profit hospitals and health systems, alleging a tie between the hospitals' tax-exempt status and their handling of billing and collections for the uninsured. We believe the cases are baseless,…
Jun 30, 2004
The recently enacted Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 \(MMA\) requires all public hospitals to comply by July 1, 2004 with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's \(OSHA\) Bloodborne Pathogens Standard as part of their Medicare provider agreement. The standard's goal is to protect…
Jun 4, 2004
On May 7, CMS published the long-awaited final 75% Rule, which sets conditions an inpatient rehabilitation facility \(IRF\) must meet to qualify for reimbursement as an IRF under Medicare. The rule maintains nine of the original ")HCFA 10") qualifying diagnoses and replaces the old polyarthritis…
Jun 4, 2004
CMS published in the May 18 Federal Register a proposed rule with changes to the fiscal year \(FY\) 2005 hospital inpatient prospective payment system \(PPS\). This rule is one of the most complicated and lengthy ever released by the agency.
May 21, 2004
The Centers for Medicare…
Mar 15, 2004
On March 8, CMS released the proposed fiscal year \(FY\) 2005 occupational mix public use file \(PUF\), which contains survey data submitted from acute care hospitals on the occupational mix of their employees. Since this data will be used to adjust Medicare hospital payments across geographic…
Feb 23, 2004
In December 2003, the AHA sent you a Member Advisory that included two documents designed to help hospitals assist their patients of limited means. The first, ")Hospital Billing and Collections Practices - Statement of Principles and Guidelines by the Board of Trustees of the American Hospital…