(a) In general
(1) Extension
With respect to inpatient hospital admissions occurring during the period beginning on the first day after the end of the emergency period described in section
1320b–5(g)(1)(B) of this title and ending on September 30, 2030, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall grant waivers and flexibilities (as described in paragraph (2)) to an individual hospital that submits a request for such waivers and flexibilities and meets specified criteria (as described in paragraph (3)) in order to participate in the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative of the Secretary.
(2) Acute Hospital Care at Home waivers and flexibilities
For the purposes of paragraph (1), the waivers and flexibilities described in this paragraph are the following waivers and flexibilities that were made available to individual hospitals under the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative of the Secretary during the emergency period described in section
1320b–5(g)(1)(B) of this title:
(A) Subject to paragraph (3)(D), waiver of the requirements to provide 24-hour nursing services on premises and for the immediate availability of a registered nurse under section
482.23(b) of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation), and the waivers of the physical environment and Life Safety Code requirements under section
482.41 of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation).
(B) Flexibility to allow a hospital to furnish inpatient services, including routine services, outside the hospital under arrangements, as described in Medicare Program: Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems and Quality Reporting Programs; Organ Acquisition; Rural Emergency Hospitals: Payment Policies, Conditions of Participation, Provider Enrollment, Physician Self-Referral; New Service Category for Hospital Outpatient Department Prior Authorization Process; Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating; COVID–19 (87 Fed. Reg. 71748 et seq.).
(C) Waiver of the telehealth requirements under clause (i) 1 of section
1395m(m)(4)(C) of this title, as amended by section
4113(a) of the Health Extenders, Improving Access to Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP, and Strengthening Public Health Act of 2022, such that the originating sites described in clause (ii) of such section shall include the home or temporary residence of the individual.
(D) Other waivers and flexibilities that, as of December 29, 2022, were in place for such initiative during such emergency period.
(3) Specified criteria
For purposes of paragraph (1), the specified criteria for granting such waivers and flexibilities to individual hospitals are:
(A) The hospital shall indicate to the Secretary the criteria it would use to ensure that hospital services be furnished only to an individual who requires an inpatient level of care, and shall require that a physician document in the medical record of each such individual that the individual meets such criteria.
(B) The hospital and any other entities providing services under arrangements with the hospital shall ensure that the standard of care to treat an individual at home is the same as the standard of care to treat such individual as an inpatient of the hospital.
(C) The hospital shall ensure that an individual is only eligible for services under paragraph (1) if the individual is a hospital inpatient or is a patient of the hospital's emergency department for whom the hospital determines that an inpatient level of care is required (as described in subparagraph (A)).
(D) The hospital shall meet all patient safety standards determined appropriate by the Secretary, in addition to those that otherwise apply to the hospital, except those for which the waivers and flexibilities under this subsection apply.
(E) The hospital shall provide to the Secretary, at a time, form and manner determined by the Secretary, any data and information the Secretary determines necessary to do the following:
(i) Monitor the quality of care furnished, and to the extent practicable, ensure the safety of individuals and analyze costs of such care.
(ii) Undertake the studies described in subsections (b) and (c).
The Secretary may require that such data and information be submitted through a hospital's cost report, through such survey instruments as the Secretary may develop, through medical record information, or through such other means as the Secretary determines appropriate.
(F) The hospital meets such other requirements and conditions as the Secretary determines appropriate.
(4) Termination
The Secretary may terminate a hospital from participation in such initiative (and the waivers and flexibilities applicable to such hospital) if the Secretary determines that the hospital no longer meets the criteria described in paragraph (3).
(b) Initial Study and report
(1) In general
The Secretary shall conduct a study to—
(A) analyze, to the extent practicable, the criteria established by hospitals under the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative of the Secretary to determine which individuals may be furnished services under such initiative; and
(B) analyze and compare, to the extent practicable—
(i) quality of care furnished to individuals with similar conditions and characteristics in the inpatient setting and through the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative, including health outcomes, hospital readmission rates, hospital mortality rates, length of stay, infection rates, and patient experience of care;
(ii) clinical conditions treated and diagnosis-related groups of discharges from the inpatient setting and under the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative;
(iii) costs incurred by furnishing care in the inpatient setting and through the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative;
(iv) the quantity, mix and intensity of such services (such as in-person visits and virtual contacts with patients) furnished in the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative and furnished in the inpatient setting; and
(v) socioeconomic information on beneficiaries treated under the initiative, including racial and ethnic data, income, and whether such beneficiaries are dually eligible for benefits under this subchapter and subchapter XIX.
(2) Report
Not later than September 30, 2024, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall post on a website of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services a report on the study conducted under paragraph (1).
(3) Funding
In addition to amounts otherwise available, there is appropriated to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Program Management Account for fiscal year 2023, out of any amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $5,000,000, to remain available until expended, for purposes of carrying out this section.
(c) Subsequent study and report
(1) In general
Not later than September 30, 2029, the Secretary shall conduct a study to—
(A) analyze, to the extent practicable, the criteria established by hospitals under the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative to determine which individuals may be furnished services under such initiative; and
(B) analyze and compare (both within and between hospitals participating in the initiative, and relative to comparable hospitals that do not participate in the initiative, for relevant parameters such as diagnosis-related groups)—
(i) quality of care furnished to individuals with similar conditions and characteristics in the inpatient setting and through the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative, including health outcomes, hospital readmission rates (including readmissions both within and beyond 30 days post-discharge), hospital mortality rates, length of stay, infection rates, composition of care team (including the types of labor used, such as contracted labor), the ratio of nursing staff, transfers from the hospital to the home, transfers from the home to the hospital (including the timing, frequency, and causes of such transfers), transfers and discharges to post-acute care settings (including the timing, frequency, and causes of such transfers and discharges), and patient and caregiver experience of care;
(ii) clinical conditions treated and diagnosis-related groups of discharges from inpatient settings relative to discharges from the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative;
(iii) costs incurred by the hospital for furnishing care in inpatient settings relative to costs incurred by the hospital for furnishing care through the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative, including costs relating to staffing, equipment, food, prescriptions, and other services, as determined by the Secretary;
(iv) the quantity, mix, and intensity of services (such as in-person visits and virtual contacts with patients and the intensity of such services) furnished in inpatient settings relative to the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative, and, to the extent practicable, the nature and extent of family or caregiver involvement;
(v) socioeconomic information on individuals treated in comparable inpatient settings relative to the initiative, including racial and ethnic data, income, housing, geographic proximity to the brick-and-mortar facility and whether such individuals are dually eligible for benefits under this subchapter and subchapter XIX; and
(vi) the quality of care, outcomes, costs, quantity and intensity of services, and other relevant metrics between individuals who entered into the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative directly from an emergency department compared with individuals who entered into the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative directly from an existing inpatient stay in a hospital.
(2) Selection bias
In conducting the study under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall, to the extent practicable, analyze and compare individuals who participate and do not participate in the initiative controlling for selection bias or other factors that may impact the reliability of data.
(3) Report
Not later than September 30, 2029, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall—
(A) submit to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate a report on the study conducted under paragraph (1); and
(B) make such report publicly available on a website of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
(4) Funding
In addition to amounts otherwise available, there is appropriated to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Program Management Account for fiscal year 2026, out of any amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $2,500,000, to remain available until expended, for purposes of carrying out this section.
(d) Implementation
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary may implement this section by program instruction or otherwise.
(e) Publicly available information
The Secretary shall, as feasible, make the information collected under subsections (a)(3)(E), (b)(1), and (c)(1) available on the Medicare.gov internet website (or a successor website).