On May 10, 2012, CMS published two final rules on the regulation of health care providers. One rule modifies and eliminates Medicare and Medicaid regulations that CMS considers “unnecessary, obsolete, or excessively burdensome on health care providers and beneficiaries.” The other rule reforms certain Medicare and Medicaid conditions of participation (CoPs) for hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs). According to the accompanying Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) press release, the reforms will result in savings of almost $1.1 billion in the first year, and more than $5 billion over five years.
As described by CMS, the final rules will:
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Modify excessively burdensome regulations applicable to providers, including the elimination of the re-enrollment bar for providers who have had their billing privileges revoked for failing to timely respond to certain CMS requests.
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Retire obsolete or duplicative regulations, such as out-of-date infection-control requirements applicable to ambulatory surgical centers.
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Relax the governing body CoP requirement, allowing a single body to oversee multiple hospitals in a hospital system.
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Revise medical staff eligibility requirements, allowing hospitals to appoint non-physician practitioners to the medical staff.
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Allow CAHs to provide radiology and laboratory services, emergency procedures and other services through contracts with outside providers (i.e., non-CAH staff).
CMS will publish the final rules in the Federal Register on May 16, 2012. The rules will take effect 60 days after publication.
HHS’s press release on the final rules is available here.
Reporter, Greg Sicilian, Atlanta, +1 404 572 2810, gsicilian@kslaw.com.
