AHCA/NCAL Observation Stays Hill Issue Brief Available

Last month, the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) commended several members of Congress for reintroducing the Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2017 (S. 568/H.R. 1421).  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), the 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.  The Observation Stays Coalition, which consists of over 30 organizations including AHCA/NCAL, fully supports this legislation.  The AHCA/NCAL issue brief is for your use when reaching out to your members of Congress.  

AHCA/NCAL continues to keep the observation stays issue one of its top advocacy and outreach priorities.  Increasingly, patients have no idea what their status is in a hospital, or the importance of it, which can lead to thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket medical expenses should they need skilled nursing center care following their hospital stay.  In addition to placing a financial burden on seniors and their families, this anomaly in Medicare rules can cause unnecessary spend-down, accelerating the time frame in which seniors will have to turn to programs such as Medicaid to pay for their care.  For more information about the observation stays issue, please visit the AHCA/NCAL website.