A bill that would require hospitals to inform patients if they will be formally admitted or classified as observational status after they have been moved from the emergency department has been approved by a Pennsylvania House committee.
Inpatient admissions for Medicare beneficiaries are considered reasonable and necessary when the patient requires more than a one-day stay in a hospital or who needs treatment specified as inpatient only. However, hospital stays for Medicare beneficiaries lasting less than two midnights must be treated and billed as outpatient, according to the new two-midnight rule.
Pennsylvania House Bill 1907 would require hospitals to provide oral and written notice about the patient's status after they have spent a full day in the hospital not including their time in the ED.
Patients who are classified as observational status and aren't formally admitted to the hospital have to pay more out-of-pocket expenses than those who are admitted, and many times patients are not aware of what their status is, according to a Pittsburg Business report.
The bill was approved by the Aging and Older Adult Services Committee, and it will now move to the full Pennsylvania House for consideration.
House Majority Whip Stan Saylor (R-York) is sponsoring the bill and the Pennsylvania Medical Society is among the bill's backers, according to the report.
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