Medicare

April 27, 2017

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:        Our hospital policies allow almost anyone to order outpatient services, regardless of whether they are a member of the Medical Staff or not.  Is this a problem?

ANSWER:            This poses compliance issues under the Medicare Conditions of Participation (“CoPs”).  The CoPs only allow outpatient services to be ordered by practitioners who meet certain conditions.  The ordering practitioner must be (1) responsible for the patient, (2) licensed in the state where he or she provides care to the patient, (3) acting within his or her scope of practice under state law, and (4) authorized by state law and policies adopted by the Medical Staff (with approval from the governing body) to order the applicable outpatient services.

Your Medical Staff policies can reflect a determination as to whether practitioners who are not on your Medical Staff are permitted to order outpatient services.  However, these policies must address how you will verify that the referring/ordering practitioner meets the requirements in the CoPs.  You will need to keep documentation to show that you have complied with the CoPs (e.g., documents showing that you checked the ordering practitioner’s license).

If you permit allied health professionals not affiliated with your hospital to order outpatient services, you may have to do a significant amount of work.  Be sure to check their scope of practice to make sure they are permitted to order the service in question.  In addition, be sure to follow the laws of your own state!

You may decide that certain orders should be permitted only by individuals with specific hospital privileges.  The Interpretive Guidelines give the example of requiring practitioners to have hospital privileges before they can place an order for outpatient chemotherapy services.  If you do this, be sure to delineate these terms clearly in your policies.

September 8, 2016

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:         An HMO that our hospital is negotiating a contract with is insisting on language that would require all of our board members and employees to receive specific “fraud, waste and abuse” training applicable to Medicare Parts C and D. Do we have to agree to this?

ANSWER:            Not if you are a hospital. Federal regulations at 42 C.F.R. §§422.503 and 423.504 specify the requirements for Medicare Advantage Organizations and Prescription Drug Plan Sponsors to implement an effective compliance program. This includes a requirement that so-called “first tier, downstream and related entities” (“FDRs”) satisfy general compliance program training requirements, as well as fraud, waste, and abuse training.

However, FDRs enrolled in Medicare Part A or B (like hospitals) or accredited as suppliers of DMEPOS are exempt from FWA training and education certification requirements, but not the general compliance training requirement.

For more information, see the CMS website, at https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Compliance-and-Audits/Part-C-and-Part-D-Compliance-and-Audits/ComplianceProgramPolicyandGuidance.html

March 17, 2016

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:        Occasionally, a physician on our medical staff will want to treat a family member.   Medical staff leadership does not think this is a good idea, but we have not expressly addressed this in any of our documents.  If we allow it, can the physician bill for the services he provides to a family member?

ANSWER:           The American Medical Association (“AMA”) has taken a strong stance against the treatment of family members by a physician.  The AMA’s Opinions on Practice Matters, E-8.19 Self?Treatment or Treatment of Immediate Family Members, includes the following statement:

Physicians generally should not treat themselves or members of their immediate families. Professional objectivity may be compromised when an immediate family member … is the patient; the physician’s personal feelings may unduly influence his or her professional medical judgment, thereby interfering with the care being delivered. Physicians may fail to probe sensitive areas when taking the medical history or may fail to perform intimate parts of the physical examination. Similarly, patients may feel uncomfortable disclosing sensitive information or undergoing an intimate examination when the physician is an immediate family member…. If tensions develop in a physician’s professional relationship with a family member, perhaps as a result of a negative medical outcome, such difficulties may be carried over into the family member’s personal relationship with the physician….

Since this issue has come up, or even if it hasn’t, we recommend that you add language to your rules and regulations to address it.

With respect to your second question, it is important for physicians to know that they cannot bill Medicare for services provided to family members. Medicare policy clearly states that the treatment of certain family members is not to be reimbursed by Medicare or any Medicare Advantage program.  The following relationships are included in the definition of family members:

  • Husband and wife;
  • Natural or adoptive parent, child, and sibling;
  • Stepparent, stepchild, stepbrother, and stepsister;
  • Father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law;
  • Grandparent and grandchild; and
  • Spouse of grandparent and grandchild.

While this is a Medicare policy, many other insurance companies have adopted this as part of their contractual policies with providers.

July 2, 2015

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:        We are in the process of buying a Medicare provider. Can you provide any guidance on Medicare’s Change of Ownership (“CHOW”) process?

ANSWER:             Yes. Medicare has made it practically impossible to acquire any provider without assuming that provider’s Medicare Provider Number. As a result, you will have to follow Medicare’s CHOW process.

The CHOW process requires both the Seller and the Buyer to complete a CMS Form 855-A for each Medicare Provider Number. (It is not unusual for one provider to have several Medicare Provider Numbers.) You will also need to obtain a new NPI number that will correspond to each Medicare Provider Number.

The Buyer and the Seller’s completed Forms, 855-A, with all attachments, must be sent to the Medicare Contractor. Please be sure to provide all information requested in the required format. When they ask for a zip code +4 or the date in an mm/dd/year format, they mean it! If you have to provide any supplemental information, then you also have to have a new certification statement (Section 15 of Form 855-A) signed and dated by an “Authorized Official.” An “Authorized Official” is defined in the 855-A as an individual who has the authority to make the changes in that submission and to commit the Buyer to fully abide by the statutes, regulations and program construction of the Medicare Program.

Once the Medicare carrier approves the application, it will be sent to CMS’s Regional Office for their review and comment. Once approved, the Regional Office will issue an approval to the provider, the Medicare Contractor and the State.

This process takes time, so plan accordingly. Also since the Buyer will be assuming the Seller’s provider number, the acquisition agreement should address the rights of the Buyer in the event of an overpayment that was caused by the Seller’s pre-closing operation of the provider but is not discovered until after the Closing Date.

Did you notice how many of this week’s cases involved employed physicians? We did!

Please join Henry, Charlie and Rachel in Las Vegas on October 15-17 for the Institute on Employed Physicians and Their Impact on the Medical Staff.