A 30-percent cut to bad debt reimbursement would apply to all eligible providers — not just hospitals — under a Feb. 10 proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Published in the Federal Register, the rule is designed “to achieve a consistent bad debt reimbursement policy for hospitals and other providers or entities currently eligible to receive payments form Medicare for bad debt.” The rule would also remove the cap on allowable Medicare bad debt for end state renal disease facilities and clarify that bad debt payments aren’t available to providers paid on a reasonable charge basis or under a fee schedule.
To see the rule, go to www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a030210c.html.