• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Donate Now
  • Sign Up

Center for Medicare Advocacy

Advancing Access to Medicare and Healthcare

  • Eligibility/Enrollment
  • Coverage/Appeals
    • Medicare Costs (2020 & 2021)
    • Self Help Materials – Toolkits & More
  • Topics
    • Basic Introduction to Medicare
    • COVID-19 and Medicare
    • Medicare Costs (2020 & 2021)
    • Home Health Care
    • Improvement Standard and Jimmo News
    • Nursing Home / Skilled Nursing Facility Care
    • Outpatient Observation Status
    • Part B
    • Part D / Prescription Drug Benefits
    • Medicare for People Under 65
    • Medicare “Reform”
    • All Other Topics
    • Resources
      • Infographics
  • Publications
    • CMA Alerts
    • Fact Sheets & Issue Briefs
    • Infographics
    • The Medicare Handbook
    • SNF Enforcement Newsletter
    • Elder Justice Newsletter
    • Medicare Facts & Fiction
    • Articles by Topic
  • Litigation
    • Litigation News
    • Cases
    • Litigation Archive
    • Amicus Curiae Activities
  • Newsroom
    • Press Releases
    • Editorials & Letters to the Editor
    • CMA Comments, Responses, and Letters
    • Medicare Facts & Fiction
    • CMA in the News
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • CMA FAQs
    • Personnel & Boards
    • The Center for Medicare Advocacy Founder’s Circle
    • Connecticut Dually Eligible Appeals Project
    • Ossen Medicare Outreach, Education and Advocacy Project
    • National Medicare Advocates Alliance
    • National Voices of Medicare Summit
    • CMA Webinars
    • Products & Services
    • Testimonials
    • Career, Fellowship & Internship Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • Support Our Work
    • Donate Now
    • Join the Center for Medicare Advocacy Founder’s Circle
    • Take Action
    • Share Your Health Care Story
    • Tell Congress to Protect Our Care
    • Listen to Medicare & Health Care Stories
    • Sign Up

Observation Status: Virginia Requires Hospitals to Notify Patients of their Observation Status

July 9, 2015

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Effective July 1, 2015, Virginia has become the fifth state to enact legislation requiring hospitals to inform patients when they are in Observation or other outpatient status, and the consequences of not being admitted as inpatients.  Senate Bill 750[1] requires hospitals to provide oral and written notice to patients who are receiving “onsite services” (including “a hospital bed and meals”), but not in an emergency department.  The notice must be provided within 24 hours of a patient’s placement in observation or outpatient status and must inform the patient that outpatient status may affect his or her financial obligations, both to the hospital and for post-hospital care.

States with similar notice laws include Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Legislation pending in Congress, the Notice of Treatment and Implications for Care Eligibility (NOTICE) Act, H.R. 876 (Doggett, D, TX), would require hospitals to provide notice to patients of their outpatient status.  The bill passed the House of Representatives on February 26, 2015 by voice vote.[2]  On June 24, 2015, the Senate Finance Committee favorably reported out the companion Senate bill, S. 1349 (Cardin, D, MD).

Although the Center for Medicare Advocacy supports notice legislation, we see the legislation as insufficient, by itself, to solve the problem of observation status for hospitalized Medicare patients.[3]  The Center is part of an ad hoc coalition of national organizations supporting bipartisan legislation – the Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2015, H.R.1571 (Courtney, D, CT) and S.843 (Brown, D, OH) – to count all time in the hospital for purposes of satisfying Medicare’s requirement that patients be inpatients for three consecutive days in order to qualify for Medicare Part A-covered post-hospital care in a skilled nursing facility.[4] 


[1] The bill amends Article 1 of Chapter 5 of Title 32, §32.1-137.03, http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?151+ful+CHAP0365.
[2] House Report 114-039 is at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/T?&report=hr039p1&dbname=114&. 
[3] See the Center’s extensive materials on observation status.  https://www.medicareadvocacy.org/?s=observation&op.x=0&op.y=0.
[4] The coalition’s Fact Sheet is at https://www.medicareadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/6.30.15.Observation-Stays-Coalition-One-Pager.pdf. 

Filed Under: Article Tagged With: Observation Status

Primary Sidebar

Easy Access to Understanding Medicare

The Center for Medicare Advocacy produces a range of informative materials on Medicare-related topics. Check them out:

  • Medicare Basics
  • CMA Alerts
  • CMA Webinars
  • Connecticut Info & Projects
  • Health Care Stories
  • Se habla Español

Sign Up for CMA Alerts

Jimmo v. Sebelius

Medicare covers skilled care to maintain or slow decline as well as to improve.

Improvement Isn’t Required. It’s the law!

Read more.

Latest Tweets

  • Our statement with @CANHR_CA and the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative recommends key issues of the Nursing Home Re… https://t.co/9nSwt3tAwT, Jan 15
@CMAorg

Footer

Stay Connected:

  • Contact Us
  • Sitemap
  • Products & Services
  • Copyright/Privacy

© 2021 · Center for Medicare Advocacy