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The recently enacted Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 \(MMA\) requires all public hospitals to comply by July 1, 2004 with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's \(OSHA\) Bloodborne Pathogens Standard as part of their Medicare provider agreement. The standard's goal is to protect…
On May 7, CMS published the long-awaited final 75% Rule, which sets conditions an inpatient rehabilitation facility \(IRF\) must meet to qualify for reimbursement as an IRF under Medicare. The rule maintains nine of the original ")HCFA 10") qualifying diagnoses and replaces the old polyarthritis…
CMS published in the May 18 Federal Register a proposed rule with changes to the fiscal year \(FY\) 2005 hospital inpatient prospective payment system \(PPS\). This rule is one of the most complicated and lengthy ever released by the agency.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services \(CMS\) on March 26 issued an interim final rule on physician self-referrals under Medicare and Medicaid. This rule marks Phase II of the regulations for what has become known as the ")Stark II") law. Phase I was published in January 2001. Taken…
On March 8, CMS released the proposed fiscal year \(FY\) 2005 occupational mix public use file \(PUF\), which contains survey data submitted from acute care hospitals on the occupational mix of their employees. Since this data will be used to adjust Medicare hospital payments across geographic…
In December 2003, the AHA sent you a Member Advisory that included two documents designed to help hospitals assist their patients of limited means. The first, ")Hospital Billing and Collections Practices - Statement of Principles and Guidelines by the Board of Trustees of the American Hospital…
As required under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act, the Department of Homeland Security \(DHS\) in July 2003 issued a final rule implementing a new certification requirement for all non-immigrant alien health care workers - aliens who are in the U.S. on temporary…