WASHINGTON report
FAQ
CMS Clarifies Medicaid Hospital
Meaningful Use Payment Formula
FDA Seeks
Comments
on its
eCopy
Program
The Food and
Drug Administration has made
draft guidance
public on its new
eCopy program
for electronic
submission of
information on
medical devices.
The agency
seeks comment
on the draft
guidance before
it works on a
final version. The
eCopy program
is designed to
be an exact
duplicate, in
terms of data
requirements,
of the current
paper processes
for applicants to
submit data for
FDA clearance or
approval.
The Cen Ters for MediCare and MediCaid services has posted a new frequently asked question concerning the counting of inpatient-bed-days in determining the payment formula under the Medicaid electronic
health records meaningful use program:
Question: May a hospital include zero pay Medicaid
eligible days in the Medicaid hospital ehr incentive
Program payment calculation?
Answer: no, zero pay Medicaid eligible days must be
excluded from the Medicaid hospital incentive calculation.
section 1903(t)( 5)(C) of the act requires
the Medicaid share to be calculated “in the
same manner as the Medicare share.” in all
ways possible, the Medicaid hospital incentive calculation is similar to Medicare,
based on this language. Medicare retrieves
data for the calculation exclusively from the
Medicare cost report.although Medicaid
offers additional flexibility in data sources, the data pa-
rameters for Medicaid are the same as Medicare. This is
cited in the stage 1 final rule where CMs said:
“The statute requires us to calculate the Medicaid
share ‘in the same manner’ as the Medicare share under
section 1886(n)( 2)(d) of the act and such substitute ser-
vice days would not be considered ‘in the same manner.’
Thus, we proposed that for purposes of the Medicaid for-
mula, we would count only those days that would count
as inpatient-bed-days for Medicare purposes under sec-
tion 1886(n)( 2)(d) of the act.”
“[T]he ehr hospital incentive payment calculation re-
quires the inclusion of only paid inpatient-bed-days.” 75
fed. reg. at 44500.
“The incentive
payment
requires
inclusion of
inpatient-bed-days.”
