Observation status trial

Last week, the class action suit against CMS on observation status finally went to trial.  According to the story from the Medicare Rights Center, Lawsuit Seeks to Improve Medicare Beneficiary Access to Nursing Facilities explains the importance of the case, as the trial started last week:

Because an observation stay is not officially considered an inpatient stay, it does not count as a qualifying hospital stay for purposes of Medicare SNF coverage—which means Medicare will not pay for any subsequent SNF care. This leaves patients on the hook for the entire cost of a needed SNF stay—potentially thousands of dollars.  Beneficiaries unable to afford this care may self-discharge against medical advice and return home before they are physically or mentally ready, and potentially suffer further devastating and expensive acute health effects.

Currently, people with Medicare cannot appeal the decision to classify a hospital stay as an outpatient stay, but a court case—Alexander v. Azar—may change that. In 2011, seven plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit to try to gain the right to appeal the decision to classify them as outpatients in observation stay instead of as inpatients who would potentially be eligible for SNF coverage. After many twists and turns, the case has finally made it to trial.

More information about the trial that got underway last week was provided in a Kaiser Health News article, Class-Action Lawsuit Seeks To Let Medicare Patients Appeal Gap in Nursing Home Coverage which contains lots of interesting info about the issue and the litigation.  For example, "'HHS’ Office of Inspector General urged CMS to count observation care days toward the three-day minimum needed for nursing home coverage. It’s No. 1 on a list issued last month of the 25 most important inspector general’s recommendations the agency has failed to implement." The importance of this case can't be emphasized enough.  I'll update you when I know more.