OIG policy protects certain hospital waivers of self-administered drug costs

A policy statement issued Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General assures hospitals that they will not be subject to administrative sanctions for discounting or waiving amounts Medicare beneficiaries may owe for self-administered drugs received in outpatient settings when those drugs are not covered by Medicare Part B. According to the OIG statement, hospitals may provide a discount or waiver of the amount owed for self-administered drugs subject to certain conditions: the beneficiary must receive the drugs for ingestion or administration in outpatient settings; hospitals must uniformly apply their policies regarding the discounts or waivers; hospitals must not market or advertise the discounts or waivers; and hospitals must not claim the discounted or waived amounts as bad debt or otherwise shift the burden of these costs to the Medicare or Medicaid programs, other payers or individuals.