In a final rule that changes the way off-campus facilities are reimbursed, the CMS was flexible in grandfathering some hospitals that had to relocate their buildings because of natural disasters.

The CMS on Tuesday released a final rule that stops paying hospital off-campus facilities the same as hospital-based outpatient departments if they started billing Medicare after Nov. 2, 2015. The change will make it difficult for health systems to recoup capital or operational costs for off-site facilities, even though they are responsible for continuing to equip and maintain the off-campus offices.

Hospital groups and even Congress had been concerned that the draft rule did not protect recently-relocated off-site facilities that had to move because of environmental issues such as being located on an earthquake fault line or a flood plain, having a lease expire, or becoming too small because of population shifts and increased patient loads.

In response, the CMS is allowing exceptions for extraordinary circumstances. The agency warns, however, that they will be rare and unusual.

Continue Reading on Modern Healthcare