AHCA/NCAL Supports Legislation to Waive Three-Day Stay Requirement

Dana Halvorson

Congressman Jim Renacci (R-OH) recently (December 20, 2017) re-introduced the Creating Access to Rehabilitation for Every Senior (CARES) Act of 2017 (H.R. 4701), which eases seniors’ access to care by permitting centers that meet specific quality measures and ratings to waive the three-day inpatient stay currently required by the Medicare program.  

The CARES Act of 2017 eliminates the three-day inpatient stay required for Medicare coverage of Part A skilled nursing care benefits by allowing centers that meet particular criteria to automatically qualify to waive the prior hospitalization requirement. The criteria are based on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Nursing Home Compare program.

AHCA/NCAL supports eliminating the three-day stay requirement and solving the related issue of observation stays. AHCA/NCAL also continues to advocate for the Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2017 (S. 568/H.R. 1421) that was introduced on March 8, 2017, by Congressmen Joe Courtney (D-CT) and Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA), and Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).

This legislation ensures that time spent under “observation status” in a hospital counts toward satisfying the three-day inpatient hospital requirement for coverage of skilled nursing care services under Medicare.

For more information about observation stays and the three-day stay requirement, please visit the AHCA/NCAL website.