In an effort to encourage more Medicare accountable care organizations to assume financial risk for the care of their patients, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is extending its exemption from the three-day inpatient stay requirement before Medicare ACOs can discharge their patients to skilled nursing facilities to ACOs participating in selected ACO model programs that involve two-sided risk under preliminary prospective assignment with retrospective reconciliation.
This move expands the waiver from the three-day SNF requirement that ACOs that assume greater financial risk already receive.
Details about the new policy, including the ACO models that qualify for this exemption and the conditions under which those ACOs can gain exemption from the three-day inpatient stay requirement, can be found in the new CMS guidance document Medicare Shared Savings Program: SKILLED NURSING FACILITY, 3-DAY RULE WAIVER.