Late this month or early February, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is expected to issue its official guidance to physician owners and hospital administrators explaining the details of the moratorium in the Medicare reform law signed by the President in December.
The moratorium was imposed by Congress on Medicare payments to physician-owners of specialty hospitals.
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson will be given the discretion to decide what defines a specialty hospital and/or to add to its definition and how a November 18 deadline for a grandfather clause in the law will be enforced.
The General accounting office reported twice to Congress in 2003 on these facilities estimating there were about 100.
There are specific criteria that physician-owners must meet before November 18, 2004, to be eligible for physicians to still receive Medicare payments under the grandfather clause that exempts surgical hospitals already built before the cut-off date.
New owners must be able to show that before then they had:
Financing in place
Local zoning requirements were met
Approvals from state governments had been received
Building plans were approved.