Medicare Blog

what is a medicare outlier

by Leanna Reinger Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago
image

Medicare makes supplemental payments to hospitals, known as outlier payments, which are designed to protect hospitals from significant financial losses resulting from patient-care cases that are extraordinarily costly.

Full Answer

How do you calculate Medicare outliers?

Outlier Payments

  • Background. Section 1886 (d) (5) (A) of the Act provides for Medicare payments to Medicare-participating hospitals in addition to the basic prospective payments for cases incurring extraordinarily high costs.
  • Cost-to-Charge Ratios. ...
  • Outlier Example. ...

What is the formula for finding an outlier?

What is the formula for finding outliers? Using the Interquartile Rule to Find Outliers Multiply the interquartile range (IQR) by 1.5 (a constant used to discern outliers). Add 1.5 x (IQR) to the third quartile. Any number greater than this is a suspected outlier. Subtract 1.5 x (IQR) from the first quartile. What does outlier mean in terms of clothing?

How to calculate Medicare Outlier payments?

Outlier Claim Information and Submission Instructions

  • Outlier Coding Rules and Guidelines. Outlier payments are made for each day during the outlier period that the beneficiary has available benefit days (regular, co-insurance, or LTR).
  • Coding the Claim. ...
  • Interactive Cost Outlier Tool. ...
  • Outlier Claim Examples. ...
  • Common Return Reasons for Outlier Claim Scenarios. ...
  • References. ...

What does it mean to be a 'outlier'?

An “outlier” is anyone or anything that lies far outside the normal range. In business, an outlier is a person dramatically more or less successful than the majority. Do you want to be an outlier on the upper end of financial success?

image

How are Medicare outpatient outliers calculated?

Outlier payments are determined by: (1) calculating the cost of services on OPPS claims (multiplying the total charges for covered OPPS services by an outpatient cost-to-charge ratio); (2) determining whether these costs exceed 2.5 times the OPPS payments; and (3) allowing 75 percent of the amount by which the costs ...

How does a claim qualify for the low side cost outlier payment?

To qualify for outlier payments, a case must have costs above a fixed-loss cost threshold amount (a dollar amount by which the costs of a case must exceed payments inorder to qualify for outliers).

What is an outlier threshold?

The upper range (threshold) in length of stay before a client's stay in a hospital becomes an outlier. It is the maximum number of days a client may stay in the hospital for the same fixed reimbursement rate.

What is a cost outlier payment?

by Medical Billing. Definitions. • Cost outlier — an inpatient hospital discharge that is extraordinarily costly. Hospitals may be eligible to receive additional payment for the discharge.

What is the fixed dollar threshold for outlier payments for 2021?

Outlier Payments (pp. 166-170): To ensure CY 2021 aggregate outlier payments equal 1.0% of estimated total OPPS payments, CMS finalized a fixed-dollar threshold of $5,300 combined with the multiple-threshold of 1.75 times to Ambulatory Payment Classification (APC) payment rate.

Does Medicare pay day outliers?

For day outliers, an additional per diem payment is made for each covered day beyond the day outlier threshold, which is set annually by HCFA. The per diem amount is calculated by dividing the applicable DRG payment amount by the average length-of-stay for the same DRG times the marginal cost of care.

What is Medicare claim PPS capital cost outlier amount?

Medicare makes supplemental payments to hospitals, known as outlier payments, which are designed to protect hospitals from significant financial losses resulting from patient-care cases that are extraordinarily costly.

How are DRG outliers calculated?

To qualify as a DRG high outlier claim, the estimated costs must be greater than the DRG allowed amount plus $40,000. The estimated costs equal the total submitted charges minus any noncovered and nonallowed charges multiplied by the hospital's ratio of costs-to-charges (RCC).

How is Medicare outpatient reimbursement calculated?

The payments are calculated by multiplying the APCs relative weight by the OPPS conversion factor and then there is a minor adjustment for geographic location. The payment is divided into Medicare's portion and patient co-pay. Co-pays vary between 20 and 40% of the APC payment rate.

Background

Section 1886 (d) (5) (A) of the Act provides for Medicare payments to Medicare-participating hospitals in addition to the basic prospective payments for cases incurring extraordinarily high costs.

Cost-to-Charge Ratios

As explained above, hospital-specific cost-to-charge ratios are applied to the covered charges for a case to determine whether the costs of the case exceed the fixed-loss outlier threshold.

Outlier Payment Adjustment

An ESRD facility that treats beneficiaries with unusually high resource requirements, as measured by their use of identified services beyond a specified threshold, are entitled to outlier payments. That is, additional payment beyond the otherwise applicable adjusted prospective payment amount.

What are considered ESRD Outlier Services?

ESRD outlier services are the following items and services that are included in the ESRD PPS bundle:

What are not considered ESRD Outlier Services?

Items and services not included in the ESRD PPS that remain separately payable, including:

Background

Section 1886 (j) (4) of the Social Security Act provides the Secretary with the authority to make payments, in addition to the basic inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) prospective payments, for cases incurring extraordinarily high costs.

Cost-to-Charge Ratios

As explained above, IRF-specific CCRs are applied to the covered charges for a case to determine whether the costs of the case exceed the fixed-loss outlier threshold. National average CCRs are applied in certain circumstances. For a more detailed discussion on CCRs and when to apply the national average CCRs, see the annual IRF PPS Final Rule.

What is an outlier in Medicare?

Definitions. • Cost outlier — an inpatient hospital discharge that is extraordinarily costly. Hospitals may be eligible to receive additional payment for the discharge. Section 1886 (d) (5) (A) of the social security act provides for Medicare payments to Medicare-participating hospitals in addition to the basic prospective payments ...

What is the occurrence code for Medicare?

Occurrence code 47 cannot be equal to or during the dates of occurrence span code 74 or 76.

What is OSC 70?

• OSC 70 — Non-utilization dates (for payer use on hospital bills only). The from/through dates during a prospective payment system (PPS) inlier stay for which the beneficiary has exhausted all regular days and/or coinsurance days, but which is covered on the cost report.

Do you have to code a claim for Medicare?

A: Yes, we encourage you to code the claim appropriately when submitting it the first time. You have access to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) PRICER software external link which helps you determine the prospective payment system (PPS) threshold. Once you determine the PPS threshold and confirm the claim can be submitted as a cost outlier, you should code the claim appropriately and forward to the fiscal intermediary standard system (FISS).

What is an outlier in Medicare?

Cost outliers apply to all inpatient facilities including, but not limited to: To bill an outlier, there must be days of utilization (Medicare benefit days) available to the beneficiary. To properly code an outlier claim, the provider must know the Covered, Non-covered, Co-insurance, and Lifetime Reserve Days (LTR) available.

What is an outlier claim?

To qualify as an outlier, the claim must have costs above a fixed loss threshold amount. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) publishes the amount in the annual Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) Final Rule.

What is the Novitas Outlier tool?

Novitas has developed an Interactive Cost Outlier Tool to assist you in determining the proper billing of your IPPS outlier claims. The tool is to be used to advise on billing scenarios and is not to be used in determining whether an outlier payment will be received.

How to bill an outlier claim?

To bill an outlier, there must be days of utilization (Medicare benefit days) available to the beneficiary. To properly code an outlier claim, the provider must know the Covered, Non-covered, Co-insurance, and Lifetime Reserve Days (LTR) available . It is only after all days have been used that benefits are exhausted.

When should I report A3?

Resolution: The benefits exhaust code, A3, should be reported the date prior to the OC 47 if benefit days exhausted prior to the OC 47. The A3 should only be reported after the OC 47 if the benefits exhaust after the inlier days. Or. Description of problem: The OC A3 is billed and no OC 47 is on claim.

How long is a short stay outlier?

If the ALOS for a particular LTC-DRG is 30 days, then the short-stay outlier policy applies to stays that are 25 days or less in length (i.e., 5/6 of 30 days = 25 days).

How long is LTCH outlier?

The LTC-DRG short-stay outlier threshold is 25 days, and the patient’s LOS is only 20 days, then the LTCH is paid the LTCH short-stay policy payment. If the patient’s benefit days end on Day 15, Medicare pays the facility for only the 15 covered days under the short-stay policy. Therefore, the patient is liable for Days 16-20 of the stay.

image
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9