“Hospitals must have at least two inpatients at the time of the survey in order for surveyors to conduct the survey. However, just because a facility has two inpatients at the time of a survey does not necessarily mean that the facility is primarily engaged in inpatient care and satisfies all of the statutory requirements to be considered a hospital for Medicare purposes. Having two patients at the time of a survey is merely a starting point in the overall survey and certification process.”
One of the industry’s fastest-emerging trends—micro-hospitals—could take a hit thanks to new CMS guidance that has hospital accreditors tweaking their policies regarding what counts as a hospital.
Micro-hospitals are small-scale, inpatient facilities with eight to 15 short-stay beds. They perform many of the same acute-care and emergency services done at larger hospitals, but are cheaper to operate. Micro-hospitals have cropped up in 19 states, mostly in underserved urban locations or areas that are farther away from large hospitals.
Prior to the CMS’ declaration in the fall, there was no guidance with respect to what it took to be considered “primarily engaged” or to count as an inpatient provider.
If smaller hospitals are not deemed to be primarily engaged in inpatient care, they may be prohibited from providing medical services or be paid at a lower rate for free-standing facilities.
Concerns are that the guidance was released without a public comment period, is effective immediately, and has a 12-month look-back period for compliance when there was not any clear guidance on expectations. That could affect the validity of surveys already performed.
Excerpts from Modern Healthcare Virgil Dickson | December 16, 2017