A bill changing notification of outpatient observation status for hospital patients has been signed into law by President Obama.

The Notice of Observation, Treatment and Implication for Care Eligibility Act will require hospitals to tell Medicare beneficiaries of their outpatient status within 36 hours, or, if sooner, upon discharge. The time spent in observation status can affect patients’ eligibility for Medicare post-acute care coverage.

Hospitals will have until August 2016 to comply with the new law. The NOTICE Act passed the Senate unanimously late last month; the House passed its version of the bill in March.

In a statement following the bill’s Senate passage, American Health Care Association Senior Vice President of Government Relations Clifton J. Porter II called the bill “an important step forward.” AHCA, along with other provider and consumer groups, has pushed for better notification for beneficiaries.

“That means millions of individuals who leave a hospital, preparing for a short stay in a skilled nursing center, will now know what their hospital status is, which could save them thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs,” Porter wrote.

Blogger comment:

Nothing hurts long term care more than the lawmakers making laws that hurt the quality not help it.  This law allows the hospital to avoid enforcement for readmissions and new admissions not meeting certain subjective, arbitrary and capricious standards just to save Medicare money.   Since the mid 1970’s the Federal Government has knowingly deprived the Medicare beneficiaries their paid for benefits by denying provider claims as being custodial in nature not skilled.  Approximately $3 trillion dollars not saved but shifted to either Medicaid stays or private insurance or private resources. and lengths of stay in nursing homes extended to 285 days average not the 100 day short stay average.

No money saved and elimination of the skilled nursing component of care after the 20 day coinsurance period.  HEW, HCFA, HHS, CMS the perpetrator of this travesty has lost two landmark cases and still doesn’t comply with the insurance policy that hasn’t changed since being passed in 1964 … each beneficiary shall receive 100 days for restoring them to their highest level of functioning so they can return home has been ignored by the payers in order to save Medicare money … ha it has failed miserably and relegated 30 million elderly to long term stays in nursing homes funded by Medicaid … the very reason that Medicaid is bankrupting the State and Federal government not Medicare.

Don’t accept my word for it … go to Fox v Bowen (1986) and Jimmo v  Sibelius (2011)  and read how our Government deprives the elderly of their Medicare benefits so they can continue to pay physicians and hospitals for treatment not results.  A $30 trillion dollar boon daggle that continues deprive the Baby Boomers their benefits.