In a drive to assist the hospitals, practices, and physicians to grapple the pandemic sequel, The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has been introducing various initiatives and waivers since the onset of Covid-19 viral attack. Earlier on March 30, 2020, an initiative called “Hospitals without walls” was announced by CMS as an effort to address the surging number of Covid-19 positive cases. According to this program, Ambulatory Surgery Center’s (ASC) roles have been expanded to assist hospitals by contracting or leasing their space to the local healthcare systems or hospitals. However, the contract and agreement need to abide and be consistent with the state regulatory law and licensing.
About ASCs
ASC – Ambulatory Surgery Centers or Ambulatory Surgical Centers are modern medical facilities providing same-day surgical care also known as outpatient surgical centers where procedures do not require hospital admissions. Patients who chose to get the surgery done in ASCs arrive on the same day of the procedure. The facility is fully equipped with an operating room, proficient, and dedicated team to perform the surgery and skilled nurses to help with recovery procedures. ASCs can provide multi-specialty services or may limit their service to one specific specialty.
Hospital without walls Initiative
According to this new rule and waiver, hospitals and health systems can now provide services to their patients beyond the physical hospital building and treat patients at an offsite location outside hospital walls. Healthcare systems now require additional room to accommodate Covid-19 patients and now with this initiative in effect, they can accommodate any space which is consistent with the state’s emergency preparedness plan. Hospitals can transfer their patients to ASCs, which implies that ASCs have expanded roles. While hospitals can transfer their patients to the ASCs, this initiative also allows ASC’s to provide hospital services to their patients.
ASCs can either lease their facility to the hospital or contract with the hospital to provide to their patients under the hospital’s temporary billing privileges. Either way, it is essential for both parties to sign an agreement abiding by the state’s regulatory and licensure measures required to implement the contract. However, it is not necessarily required to keep CMS informed of the changes in their physical and billing setup.
On 6th April CMS released a detailed guideline on steps for ASCs to temporarily enroll with the hospital. According to the guideline, ASC looking to enroll with hospitals need to primarily contact Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) – a hotline contact for Covid-19 provider enrollment to assist with the enrollment process and sign the required attestation forms. CMS is the deciding authority to approve your enrolment applications by reviewing your facility’s last three years of activities to ensure safe and quality services to the patients. CMS will automatically terminate the ASCs hospital enrollment privileges when the Covid-19 emergency has ended or the facility can contact MAC anytime it requires to reinstate its ASC billing privileges.
For more information on “Hospitals without walls” or any new rules and waivers announced by CMS during this pandemic and to know how e-care can help you with the enrollment and billing on this program, contact us today.
About e-care
e-care is one of the leading medical billing companies in India. Started in the year 2000, e-care has grown to 1000+ people with 3 delivery centers providing disaster recovery and business continuity provisions. e-care has been seamlessly providing medical billing to its clients. What differentiates e-care from its competitors is its commitment towards delivering high-quality services in a timely manner as per agreed Service Level Agreements (SLA). To know more about our billing services visit us at https://www.ecareindia.com/why-ecare.html