HCFA says how they plan to exempt Critical Access Hospitals from fee schedule

By TOM SCOTT
Scott Consulting

POWAY, California — On May 4 the Health Care Financing Administration published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in the Federal Register outlining how they propose to implement the Congressional mandate to exempt some Critical Access Hospitals from the Fee Schedule and pay them based on their reasonable costs.

In order to qualify, the CAH must provide the services directly and there must not be another ambulance service based within 35 miles, "determined as the shortest distance in miles measured over improved roads between the CAH or the entity and the site at which the vehicles of the closest provider or supplier of ambulance services are garaged. An improved road for this purpose is any road that is maintained by a local, State, or Federal government entity and is available for use by the general public. An improved road will be considered to include the paved surface up to the front entrance of the hospital and the front entrance of the garage."

HCFA is accepting comments until July 3, 2001.

Relevant portions of the NPRM are available at: http://members.home.net/tomscott/feesched.htm

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