A regulation that requires Medicare Advantage plans to comply with Medicare’s 2-midnight rule in the same manner as traditional Medicare as of 2024 is bringing mixed results for hospitals.
Some hospitals report increased admissions – and inpatient revenue – as they admit Medicare patients previously kept under observation status.
Others, though, report that with those increased admissions has come a reduction of case-mix index because these newly admitted patients are not as acutely ill as the typical hospital patient.
Still others report no clear impact yet of the requirement that Medicare Advantage plans treat the 2-midnight rule the same as Medicare.
And some report that their claims for 2-midnight admissions are still being rejected by Medicare Advantage plans.
Learn more about the new guidelines governing use of Medicare’s 2-midnight rule and their effects on hospitals from the Becker’s Hospital Review article “2-midnight rule yields mixed results for health systems.”