Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Long-term care hospitals won’t have to deal with restrictions on the number of satellite beds they can establish under a new proposal from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

In a proposed LTCH payment rule published in the March 7 Federal Register, CMS says the lifting of the satellite-bed restriction will take effect at the beginning of the first cost reporting period during which an LTCH chooses to be paid under 100 percent of the federal rate, or when the LTCH prospective payment system is completely phased in, whichever comes first.

The rule also increases the payment rate for the nation’s 280 LTCHs by 2.2 percent starting July 1, 2003. LTCHs are hospitals with an average Medicare inpatient length of stay greater than 25 days. Typically, LTCHs provide extended medical and rehabilitative care for clinically complex patients who often suffer multiple acute or chronic ills. CMS also plans to move the annual LTCH PPS update from October to July, to make the update consistent with the inpatient PPS.

To see the rule, go to http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a030303c.html.