The policy change was signed into law on June 25 as part of the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries Act. Hospitals are now barred from retrospectively billing for unbundled therapeutic services provided before June 25 if they were performed within 72 hours of an unrelated hospital admission, according to the report.
Until new billing instructions are released, hospitals should include all diagnostic and non-diagnostic services related to an inpatient stay on the inpatient claim. If a non-diagnostic service was unrelated to the stay, then the hospital may separately bill for the services if it documents its reasoning, according to the report.
Read the AHA News Now report on the 72-Hour Rule.
