CMS waiving three-day requirement for SNFs

CMS announced March 13 that it will waive the three-day stay requirement for skilled nursing facilities (SNF) in response to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Under normal circumstances, Medicare beneficiaries must meet the “three-day rule” before SNF admission. The rule requires the beneficiary to have a medically necessary three-day consecutive inpatient hospital stay—not including the day of discharge or pre-admission time spent in the emergency room or in outpatient observation—to qualify for a stay in a SNF.

CMS announced the waiver following President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national state of emergency due to the spread of coronavirus.

Beginning immediately, the previously stated requirements for SNF admission will no longer be necessary.

In addition, the waiver authorizes renewed SNF coverage for certain beneficiaries who recently exhausted SNF benefits. Those beneficiaries are no longer required to start a new benefit period. The waiver also provides relief to SNFs on the timeframe requirements for Minimum Data Set assessments and transmission.

In the same press release, CMS announced several other waivers. Critical access hospitals (CAH) will no longer be held to a 25-bed limit and patients will no longer be required to complete a 96-hour stay. In long-term acute care hospitals (LTACH), the 25-day average length-of-stay requirement will be waived. CMS is also allowing acute care inpatients to be placed in excluded distinct part units, as long as those units are appropriate for acute care.