MedPAC Recommends RAC, Observation Status Reforms

Congress' Medicare payment advisers unanimously approved a series of recommendations that some commissioners said could help alleviate the burden on beneficiaries -- and in some situations, hospitals -- from the use of observation status and short hospital stays. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) voted for reforming the Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC) program, withdrawing the two-midnights inpatient admission rule, notifying some beneficiaries under observation of their outpatient status and counting some time spent in observation toward Medicare's required three-day nursing...