The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is allowing independent freestanding emergency departments to deliver imaging to its beneficiaries in some states to relieve swamped hospitals, the agency announced Tuesday.
These EDs offer a range of services, including x-ray, CT and ultrasound. However, current regulations do not allow them to bill Medicare and Medicaid for services, the agency noted. Following its decree, independent freestanding EDs in Colorado, Delaware, Rhode Island and Texas will temporarily be able to bill CMS for care.
“Expanding the number of providers available to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries eases some of the burden shouldered by traditional hospitals and allows the healthcare system to treat more patients at a time when capacity is often limited,” Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement. “We must leave no stone unturned as we seek to bolster the healthcare system during this unprecedented crisis.”
CMS’ policy change follows the issuance of emergency-declaration blanket waivers to providers in the aforementioned states. The agency is renouncing certain conditions of participation in its programs and allowing IFEDs to come aboard either by becoming affiliated with a certified hospital or enrolling temporarily as one on their own. They can also participate in Medicaid under the “clinic benefit,” if permitted in their state.
You can read view the COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Blanket Waivers for Health Care providers here, and read CMS’ guidance for IFEDS here.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.