Update on Medicare Observation Status

The Center for Medicare Advocacy (CMA) issued an update on August 8 on recent activity regarding the use of observation status by hospitals. The update discusses the recent publication by the Office of the Inspector General of HHS Memorandum Report on the use of observation status and short-term inpatient stays for Medicare beneficiaries. In addition, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also released regulations on hospital inpatient prospective payment systems August 2, 2013 (with a federal register publication date of August 19, 2013 and an effective date of October 1, 2013).  CMA has excellent information on their website on observation status, the improvement standard and other Medicare topics.  (Note: in the interest of full disclosure, co-blogger and author of this post-Becky Morgan-is on the board of the CMA).

Becky Morgan