Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2014/05/12/2014-10872/medicare-program-request-for-an-exception-to-the-prohibition-on-expansion-of-facility-capacity-under
Timestamp: 2018-09-18 17:58:45
Document Index: 712393161

Matched Legal Cases: ['§\u2009411', '§\u2009411', '§\u2009411', '§\u2009411', '§\u2009411', '§\u2009411', '§\u2009411']

26969-26971 (3 pages)
CMS-2014-0061
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2014-10872 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2014-10872
Under section 1877(i) of the Social Security Act (the Act), a physician-owned hospital is effectively prohibited from expanding facility capacity, unless the Secretary grants the hospital's request for an exception to that prohibition after considering input on the hospital's request from individuals and entities in the community where the hospital is located. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has received a request from a physician-owned hospital for an exception to the prohibition against expansion of facility capacity. This notice solicits comments on the request from individuals and entities in the community in which the physician-owned hospital is located. Community input may inform our determination regarding whether the requesting hospital qualifies for an exception to the prohibition against expansion of facility capacity.
Comment Date: To be assured consideration, comments must be received at one of the addresses provided below, no later than 5 p.m. on June 11, 2014.
In commenting, please refer to file code CMS-1615-NC. Because of staff and resource limitations, we cannot accept comments by facsimile (FAX) transmission.
2. By regular mail. You may mail written comments to the following address ONLY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, Attention: CMS-1615-NC, P.O. Box 8010, Baltimore, MD 21244-1850.
3. By express or overnight mail. You may send written comments to the following address ONLY: Department of Health and Human Services, Attention: CMS-1615-NC, Mail Stop C4-26-05, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21244-1850.
Section 1877 of the Social Security Act (the Act), also known as the physician self-referral law—(1) prohibits a physician from making referrals for certain “designated health services” (DHS) payable by Medicare to an entity with which he or she (or an immediate family member) has a financial relationship (ownership or compensation), unless an exception applies; and (2) prohibits the entity from filing claims with Medicare (or billing another individual, entity, or third party payer) for those DHS furnished as a result of a prohibited referral.
Section 1877(d)(3) of the Act provides an exception, known as the “whole hospital exception,” for physician ownership or investment interests held in a hospital located outside of Puerto Rico, provided that the referring physician is authorized to perform services at the hospital and the ownership or investment interest is in the hospital itself (and not merely in a subdivision of the hospital).
Section 6001(a)(3) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Pub. L. 111-148) as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-152) (hereafter referred to together as “the Affordable Care Act”) amended the whole hospital and rural provider exceptions to the physician self-referral prohibition to impose additional restrictions on physician ownership and investment in hospitals and rural providers. Since March 23, 2010, a physician-owned hospital that seeks to avail itself of either exception is prohibited from expanding facility capacity unless it qualifies as an “applicable hospital” or “high Medicaid facility” (as defined in sections 1877(i)(3)(E), (F) of the Act and 42 CFR 411.362(c)(2), (3) of our regulations) and has been granted an exception to the prohibition by the Secretary. Section 1877(i)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act provides that individuals and entities in the community in which the provider requesting the exception is located must have an opportunity to provide input with respect to the provider's application for the exception. For further information, visit our Web site at: http://www.cms.gov/​Medicare/​Fraud-and-Abuse/​PhysicianSelfReferral/​Physician_​Owned_​Hospitals.html.
On November 30, 2011, we published a final rule in the Federal Register (76 FR 74122, 74517 through 74525) that, among other things, finalized § 411.362(c), which specified the process for submitting, commenting on, and reviewing a request for an exception to the prohibition on expansion of facility capacity. We specified that prior to our review of the request, we will solicit community input on the request for an exception by publishing a notice of the request in the Federal Register (see § 411.362(c)(5)). We also stated that individuals and entities in the hospital's community have 30 days to submit comments on the request. Community input must take the form of written comments and may include documentation demonstrating that the physician-owned hospital requesting the exception does or does not qualify as an “applicable hospital” or “high Medicaid facility,” as such terms are defined in § 411.362(c)(2) and (3). Although we gave examples of community input, such as documentation demonstrating that the hospital does not satisfy one or more of the data criteria or that the hospital discriminates against beneficiaries of Federal health programs, we noted that Start Printed Page 26971these were examples only and that we will not restrict the type of community input that may be submitted (76 FR 74522). If we receive timely comments from the community, we will notify the hospital, and the hospital has 30 days after such notice to submit a rebuttal statement (§ 411.362(c)(5)(ii)).
A request for an exception to the facility expansion prohibition is considered complete and ready for CMS review if no comments from the community are received by the close of the 30-day comment period. If we receive timely comments from the community, we consider the request to be complete 30 days after the hospital is notified of the comments. If we grant the request for an exception to the prohibition on expansion of facility capacity, the expansion may occur only in facilities on the hospital's main campus and may not result in the number of operating rooms, procedure rooms, and beds for which the hospital is licensed exceeding 200 percent of the hospital's baseline number of operating rooms, procedure rooms, and beds (§ 411.362(c)(6)). Our decision to grant or deny a hospital's request for an exception to the prohibition on expansion of facility capacity will be published in the Federal Register in accordance with our regulations at § 411.362(c)(7).
Name of Facility: Lake Pointe Medical Center
Location: 6800 Scenic Drive, Rowlett, Texas 75088-4552 (Rockwall County)
Basis for Exception Request: High Medicaid Facility
We seek comments on this request from individuals and entities in the community in which the hospital is located. We encourage interested parties to review the hospital's request, which is posted on the CMS Web site at: http://www.cms.gov/​Medicare/​Fraud-and-Abuse/​PhysicianSelfReferral/​Physician_​Owned_​Hospitals.html. We especially welcome comments regarding whether the hospital qualifies as a “high Medicaid facility.” Under § 411.362(c)(3), a “high Medicaid facility” is a hospital that satisfies all of the following criteria:
With respect to each of the 3 most recent fiscal years for which data are available as of the date the hospital submits its request, the hospital has an annual percent of total inpatient admissions under Medicaid that is estimated to be greater than such percent with respect to such admissions for any other hospital located in the county in which the hospital is located.
We note that our regulations require the requesting hospital to use filed hospital cost report discharge data to estimate its annual percentage of total inpatient admissions under Medicaid and the annual percentages of total inpatient admissions under Medicaid for every other hospital located in the county in which the hospital is located.
We will consider all comments we receive by the date and time specified in the DATES section of this preamble, and, when we proceed with a subsequent document, we will respond to the comments in the preamble to that document.
[FR Doc. 2014-10872 Filed 5-9-14; 8:45 am]