CMS Proposed Changes to “Two-Midnight” Rule

CMS Proposed Changes to ‘Two-Midnight’ Rule. On July 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released proposed updates to the “Two-Midnight” rule regarding when inpatient admissions are appropriate for payment under Medicare Part A.

The proposed update allows physicians to use their judgment to admit patients for short hospital stays on a case-by-case basis. CMS would remove oversight of those decisions from its administrative contractors and instead have quality improvement organizations enforce the policy.

Following adoption of the “Two-Midnight” rule, CMS received significant feedback from physicians and other stakeholders that the policy was impacting physician and hospital practices.

http://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2015-Fact-sheets-items/2015-07-01-2.html