November 19, 2014
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released a list of critical access hospitals in counties that lost their rural status and became classified as urban as of Oct. 1, 2014. To maintain their CAH status, these hospitals must apply for reclassification as rural through one of two channels by Sept. 30, 2016. The first is by determination of a Rural-Urban Commuting Area Code of 4 or larger. The second is by mandate from either state law or regulation that defines the hospital as rural. Documentation should be sent in a letter from the CEO to the CMS regional office. The regional office will review it and send a notice within 60 days that the reclassification is effective as of their application date. This process is not to be confused with wage index requests, which should be submitted to the Medicare geographic reclassification review board for processing. CMS will discuss the redesignation process during its Rural Open Door Forum tomorrow, Nov. 20 at 2 p.m. ET.
Source: AHA News
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