Medicare Advantage two-midnight rule contributing to higher outpatient revenues
More than 20% of Medicare Advantage patients could be affected by the rule, report finds.
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' January expansion of the two-midnight rule to include Medicare Advantage plans has contributed to higher inpatient volumes and revenue growth in the first quarter of the year, according to a Strata Decision Technology report.
This is because inpatient services have higher reimbursement levels compared to outpatient services and the two-midnight rule concerns inpatient care.
CMS published the final rule in April 2023, which for the first time expanded the rule to include Medicare Advantage plans. The rule requires patients to be admitted as an inpatient if the treating clinician determines they require hospital care that extends beyond two midnights, rather than being held under observation status as an outpatient.
The expansion now includes more than 30 million people enrolled in Medicare Advantage managed care plans. Prior to the final rule, the two-midnight rule only explicitly applied to traditional Medicare.
More than 20% of Medicare Advantage patients could be affected by the rule, the report found. An analysis of Medicare Advantage encounters from 2023 – before the rule was expanded to those patients – found that 22.3% were held in observation status for two days or more. By comparison, 8.7% of Medicare patients and 11.3% of patients covered by commercial plans had observation lengths of stay of two days or more in 2023.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
Looking at trends in hospital gross revenues, year-over-year growth in inpatient revenue surpassed outpatient revenue in March for the first time in more than two years. Inpatient revenue rose 3.7% versus March 2023, while outpatient revenue was up 2.4% year-over-year. Overall gross operating revenue increased 3.1% and 2.2% over the same periods, respectively.
March marked the 11th consecutive month of year-over-year increases for all three metrics, which contributed to stronger margins in recent months, data showed.
Revenue growth varied widely for hospitals in different regions. For example, hospitals in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic areas saw inpatient revenue jump 5.4% year-over-year in March, while outpatient revenue was nearly flat, down just 0.1%.
Adjusted revenues increased year-over-year, but were down month-over-month. Net patient service revenue per adjusted discharge increased 2.5% year-over-year, and decreased 1.7% versus the previous month, while NPSR per adjusted patient day rose 4.9% from March 2023 to March 2024, and was down 0.5% from February to March 2024.
Hospital operating margins showed strong performance throughout the first quarter. The median year-to-date operating margin was 4.7% for the month, down slightly from a peak of 5.2% in January, but up significantly compared to margins of less than 1% in early 2023.
While actual operating margin increased overall, the median change in the metric was nearly flat both year-over-year and month-over-month when looking at the national data. The median change in operating margin decreased 0.1 percentage point from March 2023 to March 2024, and was down 0.3 percentage point compared to February 2024. The median change in operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin decreased 0.4% year-over-year and 0.5% versus the prior month.
THE LARGER TREND
CMS initially implemented the two-midnight Rule for Medicare in 2013 to help remove barriers to patients receiving medically necessary care.
Medicare's two-midnight rule states that inpatient services are generally payable under Medicare Part A if a physician expects a patient to require medically necessary hospital care that spans at least two midnights.
Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.
