CMS updates transfer policy to include early discharges to hospice care

CMS released One-Time Notification Transmittal 2055 on April 27 to ensure discharges to hospice care comply with the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.

For patients who are transferred to another hospital prior to the end of the geometric mean length of stay for their Medicare Severity Diagnosis-Related Group (MS-DRG), CMS will pay the transferring hospital on a graduated per-diem rate that does not exceed the full MS-DRG payment. For the purpose of this rule, CMS limited postacute transfers to those where a patient is transferred to a distinct hospital unit, skilled nursing facility, or home with home health services within three days of discharge.

Under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, this law was modified to include discharges to hospice care, meaning that a transfer from acute to hospice care is subject to payment adjustments beginning in FY 2019.