SCS/HCS/HB 712 - This act requires hospitals providing observation services to provide written notice to patients, or their legal guardians or other authorized representatives, of certain specified information, including the impact of observation status on Medicare, Mo HealthNet, or private health care coverage. The hospital must also provide oral notice to a patient that they are receiving observation services and of the information contained in the written notice. This oral and written notification must be provided within 24 hours of the initiation of observation services or upon discharge from the hospital, whichever occurs first. This act also specifies a hospital's responsibility to notify a patient if their status has been reclassified as observation services based on whether the patient is covered by Medicare, Mo HealthNet, or private coverage.
Under this act, the Department of Health and Senior Services shall publish a notice in the Missouri Register if the governing Medicare regulations eliminate the 3-day qualifying hospital stay requirement relating to a patient's subsequent eligibility for Medicare coverage of a skilled nursing facility or other post-discharge care.
This act has an effective date of January 1, 2016.
This act is similar to HB 599 (2015), SB 298 (2015) and provisions in HCS/SCS/SB 38 (2015).
SARAH HASKINS