Purpose: (Part 1 of 3) The department is no longer using the twenty-four-hours-or-less criteria in the definition for "outpatient short stay." The definition and related definitions are deleted or updated with alternative language as applicable. Hospital admissions are based on medical criteria rather than on time (twenty-four-hours-or-less criteria) in order to bring the department's policies in line with industry standards and promote administrative simplicity for providers. Amendments to WAC 388-550-1050 update current definitions relating to reimbursement for outpatient hospital services in order to be consistent with the filing of a new rule to implement the outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) program.

     Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 388-550-1050.

     Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 74.08.090 and 74.09.500.

      Adopted under notice filed as WSR 04-17-111 on August 17, 2004.

     A final cost-benefit analysis is available by contacting Linda Ayers, P.O. Box 45506, Olympia, WA 98504, phone (360) 725-1680, fax (360) 586-1471, e-mail ayerslr@dshs.wa.gov. The cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is unchanged from the preliminary version.

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0;      Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.

     Date Adopted: September 27, 2004.

Brian H. Lindgren, Manager

Rules and Policies Assistance Unit

OTS-7392.2

AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 03-19-043, filed 9/10/03, effective 10/11/03)

WAC 388-550-1050   Hospital services definitions.   The following definitions and abbreviations and those found in WAC 388-500-0005, Medical definitions, apply to this chapter.

     "Accommodation costs" means the expenses incurred by a hospital to provide its patients services for which a separate charge is not customarily made. These expenses include, but are not limited to, room and board, medical social services, psychiatric social services, and the use of certain hospital equipment and facilities.

     "Acute" means a medical condition of severe intensity with sudden onset.

     "Acute care" means care provided for patients who are not medically stable or have not attained a satisfactory level of rehabilitation. These patients require frequent monitoring by a health care professional in order to maintain their health status (see WAC 248-27-015).

     "Acute physical medicine and rehabilitation (Acute PM&R)" means a twenty-four hour inpatient comprehensive program of integrated medical and rehabilitative services provided during the acute phase of a client's rehabilitation.

     "ADATSA/DASA assessment center" means an agency contracted by the division of alcohol and substance abuse (DASA) to provide chemical dependency assessment for clients and pregnant women in accordance with the alcoholism and drug addiction treatment and support act (ADATSA). Full plans for a continuum of drug and alcohol treatment services for pregnant women are also developed in ADATSA/DASA assessment centers.

     "Add-on procedure(s)" means secondary procedure(s) that are performed in addition to another procedure.

     "Administrative day" means a day of a hospital stay in which an acute inpatient level of care is no longer necessary, and noninpatient hospital placement is appropriate.

     "Admitting diagnosis" means the medical condition before study, which is initially responsible for the client's admission to the hospital, as defined by the ICD-9-CM diagnostic code.

     "Advance directive" means a document, such as a living will executed by a client. The advanced directive tells the client's health care providers and others the client's decisions regarding the client's medical care, particularly whether the client or client's representative wishes to accept or refuse extraordinary measures to prolong the client's life.

     "Aggregate capital cost" means the total cost or the sum of all capital costs.

     "Aggregate cost" means the total cost or the sum of all constituent costs.

     "Aggregate operating cost" means the total cost or the sum of all operating costs.

     "Alcoholism and drug addiction treatment and support act (ADATSA)" means the law and the state-funded program it established which provides medical services for persons who are incapable of gainful employment due to alcoholism or substance addiction.

     "Alcoholism and/or alcohol abuse treatment" means the provision of medical social services to an eligible client designed to mitigate or reverse the effects of alcoholism or alcohol abuse and to reduce or eliminate alcoholism or alcohol abuse behaviors and restore normal social, physical, and psychological functioning. Alcoholism or alcohol abuse treatment is characterized by the provision of a combination of alcohol education sessions, individual therapy, group therapy, and related activities to detoxified alcoholics and their families.

     "All-patient grouper (AP-DRG)" means a computer program that determines the DRG assignments.

     "Allowed charges" means the maximum amount for any procedure that the department allows as the basis for payment computation.

     "Ambulatory surgery" means a surgical procedure that is not expected to require an inpatient hospital admission.

     "Ancillary hospital costs" means the expenses incurred by a hospital to provide additional or supporting services to its patients during their hospital stay. See "ancillary services."

     "Ancillary services" means additional or supporting services provided by a hospital to a patient during the patient's hospital stay. These services include, but are not limited to, laboratory, radiology, drugs, delivery room, operating room, postoperative recovery rooms, and other special items and services.

     "Appropriate level of care" means the level of care required to best manage a client's illness or injury based on the illness presentation and the services received.

     "Approved treatment facility" means a treatment facility, either public or private, profit or nonprofit, approved by DSHS.

     "Audit" means an assessment, evaluation, examination, or investigation of a health care provider's accounts, books and records, including:

     (1) Medical, financial and billing records pertaining to billed services paid by the department through Medicaid or other state programs, by a person not employed or affiliated with the provider, for the purpose of verifying the service was provided as billed and was allowable under program regulations; and

     (2) Financial, statistical and medical records, including mathematical computations and special studies conducted supporting Medicare cost reports, HCFA Form 2552, submitted to MAA for the purpose of establishing program rates of reimbursement to hospital providers.

     "Audit claims sample" means a subset of the universe of paid claims from which the sample is drawn, whether based upon judgmental factors or random selection. The sample may consist of any number of claims in the population up to one hundred percent. See also "random claims sample" and "stratified random sample."

     "Authorization" - See "prior authorization" and "expedited prior authorization (EPA)."

     "Average hospital rate" means the average of hospital rates for any particular type of rate that MAA uses.

     "Bad debt" means an operating expense or loss incurred by a hospital because of uncollectible accounts receivables.

     "Beneficiary" means a recipient of Social Security benefits, or a person designated by an insuring organization as eligible to receive benefits.

     "Billed charge" means the charge submitted to the department by the provider.

     "Blended rate" means a mathematically weighted average rate.

     "Border area hospital" means a hospital located outside Washington state and located in one of the ((border areas)) bordering cities listed in WAC 388-501-0175.

     "BR" - See "by report."

     "Bundled services" mean interventions which are integral to the major procedure and are not reimbursable separately.

     "Buy-in premium" means a monthly premium the state pays so a client is enrolled in part A and/or part B Medicare.

     "By report (BR)" means a method of reimbursement in which MAA determines the amount it will pay for a service when the rate for that service is not included in MAA's published fee schedules. Upon request the provider must submit a "report" which describes the nature, extent, time, effort and/or equipment necessary to deliver the service.

     "Callback" means keeping hospital staff members on duty beyond their regularly scheduled hours, or having them return to the facility after hours to provide unscheduled services which are usually associated with hospital emergency room, surgery, laboratory and radiology services.

     "Capital-related costs" mean the component of operating costs related to capital assets, including, but not limited to:

     (1) Net adjusted depreciation expenses;

     (2) Lease and rentals for the use of depreciable assets;

     (3) The costs for betterment and improvements;

     (4) The cost of minor equipment;

     (5) Insurance expenses on depreciable assets;

     (6) Interest expense; and

     (7) Capital-related costs of related organizations that provide services to the hospital.

     Capital costs due solely to changes in ownership of the provider's capital assets are excluded.

     "Case mix complexity" means, from the clinical perspective, the condition of the treated patients and the difficulty associated with providing care. Administratively, it means the resource intensity demands that patients place on an institution.

     "Case mix index (CMI)" means the arithmetical index that measures the average relative weight of a case treated in a hospital during a defined period.

     "Charity care" means necessary hospital health care rendered to indigent persons, to the extent that these persons are unable to pay for the care or to pay the deductibles or coinsurance amounts required by a third-party payer, as determined by the department.

     "Chemical dependency" means an alcohol or drug addiction; or dependence on alcohol and one or more other psychoactive chemicals.

     "Children's hospital" means a hospital primarily serving children.

     "Client" means a person who receives or is eligible to receive services through department of social and health services (DSHS) programs.

     "Comorbidity" means of, relating to, or caused by a disease other than the principal disease.

     "Complication" means a disease or condition occurring subsequent to or concurrent with another condition and aggravating it.

     "Comprehensive hospital abstract reporting system (CHARS)" means the department of health's hospital data collection, tracking and reporting system.

     "Contract hospital" means a licensed hospital located in a selective contracting area, which is awarded a contract to participate in MAA's hospital selective contracting program.

     "Contractual adjustment" means the difference between the amount billed at established charges for the services provided and the amount received or due from a third-party payer under a contract agreement. A contractual adjustment is similar to a trade discount.

     "Cost proxy" means an average ratio of costs to charges for ancillary charges or per diem for accommodation cost centers used to determine a hospital's cost for the services where the hospital has Medicaid claim charges for the services, but does not report costs in corresponding centers in its Medicare cost report.

     "Cost report" means the HCFA Form 2552, Hospital and Hospital Health Care Complex Cost Report, completed and submitted annually by a provider:

     (1) To Medicare intermediaries at the end of a provider's selected fiscal accounting period to establish hospital reimbursable costs for per diem and ancillary services; and

     (2) To Medicaid to establish appropriate DRG and RCC reimbursement.

     "Costs" mean MAA-approved operating, medical education, and capital-related costs as reported and identified on the HCFA 2552 form.

     "Cost-based conversion factor (CBCF)" means a hospital-specific dollar amount that reflects a hospital's average cost of treating Medicaid clients. It is calculated from the hospital's cost report by dividing the hospital's costs for treating Medicaid clients during a base period by the number of Medicaid discharges during that same period and adjusting for the hospital's case mix. See also "hospital conversion factor" and "negotiated conversion factor."

     "County hospital" means a hospital established under the provisions of chapter 36.62 RCW.

     "Current procedural terminology (CPT)" means a systematic listing of descriptive terms and identifying codes for reporting medical services, procedures, and interventions performed by physicians. CPT is copyrighted and published annually by the American Medical Association (AMA).

     "Customary charge payment limit" means the limit placed on aggregate DRG payments to a hospital during a given year to assure that DRG payments do not exceed the hospital's charges to the general public for the same services.

     "Day outlier" means a case that requires MAA to make additional payment to the hospital provider but which does not qualify as a high-cost outlier. See "day outlier payment" and "day outlier threshold."

     "Day outlier payment" means the additional amount paid to a disproportionate share hospital for a client five years old or younger who has a prolonged inpatient stay which exceeds the day outlier threshold but whose covered charges for care fall short of the high cost outlier threshold. The amount is determined by multiplying the number of days in excess of the day outlier threshold and the administrative day rate.

     "Day outlier threshold" means the average number of days a client stays in the hospital for an applicable DRG before being discharged, plus twenty days.

     "Deductible" means the amount a beneficiary is responsible for, before Medicare starts paying; or the initial specific dollar amount for which the applicant or client is responsible.

     "Department" means the state department of social and health services (DSHS).

     "Detoxification" means treatment provided to persons who are recovering from the effects of acute or chronic intoxication or withdrawal from alcohol or other drugs.

     "Diabetic education program" means a comprehensive, multidisciplinary program of instruction offered by an MAA-approved facility to diabetic clients on dealing with diabetes, including instruction on nutrition, foot care, medication and insulin administration, skin care, glucose monitoring, and recognition of signs/symptoms of diabetes with appropriate treatment of problems or complications.

     "Diagnosis code" means a set of numeric or alphanumeric characters assigned by the ICD-9-CM, or successor document, as a shorthand symbol to represent the nature of a disease.

     "Diagnosis-related group (DRG)" means a classification system which categorizes hospital patients into clinically coherent and homogenous groups with respect to resource use, i.e., similar treatments and statistically similar lengths of stay for patients with related medical conditions. Classification of patients is based on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9), the presence of a surgical procedure, patient age, presence or absence of significant comorbidities or complications, and other relevant criteria.

     "Direct medical education costs" means the direct costs of providing an approved medical residency program as recognized by Medicare.

     "Discharging hospital" means the institution releasing a client from the acute care hospital setting.

     "Disproportionate share payment" means additional payment(s) made by the department to a hospital which serves a disproportionate number of Medicaid and other low-income clients and which qualifies for one or more of the disproportionate share hospital programs identified in the state plan.

     "Disproportionate share program" means a program that provides additional payments to hospitals which serve a disproportionate number of Medicaid and other low-income clients.

     "Dispute conference" - See "hospital dispute conference."

     "Distinct unit" means a Medicare-certified distinct area for psychiatric or rehabilitation services within an acute care hospital or a department-designated unit in a children's hospital.

     "Division of alcohol and substance abuse (DASA)" is the division within DSHS responsible for providing alcohol and drug-related services to help clients recover from alcoholism and drug addiction.

     "DRG" - See "diagnosis-related group."

     "DRG-exempt services" means services which are paid for through other methodologies than those using cost-based conversion factors (CBCF) or negotiated conversion factors (NCF).

     "DRG payment" means the payment made by the department for a client's inpatient hospital stay. This payment calculated by multiplying the hospital-specific conversion factor by the DRG relative weight for the client's medical diagnosis.

     "DRG relative weight" means the average cost or charge of a certain DRG divided by the average cost or charge, respectively, for all cases in the entire data base for all DRGs.

     "Drug addiction and/or drug abuse treatment" means the provision of medical and rehabilitative social services to an eligible client designed to mitigate or reverse the effects of drug addiction or drug abuse and to reduce or eliminate drug addiction or drug abuse behaviors and restore normal physical and psychological functioning. Drug addiction or drug abuse treatment is characterized by the provision of a combination of drug and alcohol education sessions, individual therapy, group therapy and related activities to detoxified addicts and their families.

     "DSHS" means the department of social and health services.

     "Elective procedure or surgery" means a nonemergent procedure or surgery that can be scheduled at convenience.

     "Emergency room" or "emergency facility" means an organized, distinct hospital-based facility available twenty-four hours a day for the provision of unscheduled episodic services to patients who present for immediate medical attention, and is capable of providing emergency services including trauma care.

     "Emergency services" means medical services required by and provided to a patient after the sudden onset of a medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity that the absence of immediate medical attention could reasonably be expected to result in placing the patient's health in serious jeopardy; serious impairment to bodily functions; or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part. For hospital reimbursement purposes, inpatient maternity services are treated as emergency services.

     "Equivalency factor (EF)" means a conversion factor used, in conjunction with two other factors (cost-based conversion factor and the ratable factor), to determine the level of state-only program payment.

     "Exempt hospital -- DRG payment method" means a hospital that for a certain patient category is reimbursed for services to MAA clients through methodologies other than those using cost-based or negotiated conversion factors.

     "Exempt hospital -- Hospital selective contracting program" means a hospital that is either not located in a selective contracting area or is exempted by the department from the selective contracting program.

     "Expedited prior authorization (EPA)" means the MAA-delegated process of creating an authorization number for selected medical/dental procedures and related supplies and services in which providers use a set of numeric codes to indicate which MAA-acceptable indications, conditions, diagnoses, and/or MAA-defined criteria are applicable to a particular request for service.

     "Expedited prior authorization (EPA) number" means an authorization number created by the provider that certifies that MAA-published criteria for the medical/dental procedures and related supplies and services have been met.

     "Experimental" means a term to describe a procedure, or course of treatment, which lacks scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness. See WAC 388-531-0500. A service is not "experimental" if the service:

     (1) Is generally accepted by the medical profession as effective and appropriate; and

     (2) Has been approved by the FDA or other requisite government body if such approval is required.

     "Facility triage fee" means the amount MAA will pay a hospital for a medical evaluation or medical screening examination, performed in the hospital's emergency department, for a nonemergent condition of a healthy options client covered under the primary care case management (PCCM) program. This amount corresponds to the professional care level A or level B service.

     "Fee-for-service" means the general payment method the department uses to reimburse providers for covered medical services provided to medical assistance clients when these services are not covered under MAA's healthy options program.

     "Fiscal intermediary" means Medicare's designated fiscal intermediary for a region and/or category of service.

     "Fixed per diem rate" means a daily amount used to determine payment for specific services.

     "Global surgery days" means the number of preoperative and follow-up days that are included in the reimbursement to the physician for the major surgical procedure.

     "Graduate medical education costs" means the direct and indirect costs of providing medical education in teaching hospitals.

     "Grouper" - See "all-patient grouper (AP-DRG)."

     "HCFA 2552" - See "cost report."

     "Health care team" means a group of health care providers involved in the care of a client.

     "High-cost outlier" means a claim paid under the DRG method that did not meet the definition of "administrative day," and has extraordinarily high costs when compared to other claims in the same DRG, in which the allowed charges, before January 1, 2001, exceed three times the applicable DRG payment and exceed twenty-eight thousand dollars. For dates of service January 1, 2001 and after, to qualify as a high-cost outlier, the allowed charges must exceed three times the applicable DRG payment and exceed thirty-three thousand dollars.

     "Hospice" means a medically-directed, interdisciplinary program of palliative services for terminally ill clients and the clients' families. Hospice is provided under arrangement with a Title XVIII Washington state-licensed and Title XVIII-certified Washington state hospice.

     "Hospital" means an entity which is licensed as an acute care hospital in accordance with applicable state laws and regulations, and which is certified under Title XVIII of the federal Social Security Act.

     "Hospital base period" means, for purposes of establishing a provider rate, a specific period or timespan used as a reference point or basis for comparison.

     "Hospital base period costs" means costs incurred in or associated with a specified base period.

     "Hospital conversion factor" means a hospital-specific dollar amount that reflects the average cost for a DRG paid case of treating Medicaid clients in a given hospital. See cost-based conversion factor (CBCF) and negotiated conversion factor (NCF).

     "Hospital covered service" means a service that is provided by a hospital, included in the medical assistance program and is within the scope of the eligible client's medical care program.

     "Hospital cost report" - See "cost report."

     "Hospital dispute resolution conference" means a meeting for deliberation during a provider administrative appeal.

     (1) The first dispute resolution conference is usually a meeting between medical assistance administration and hospital staff, to discuss a department action or audit finding(s). The purpose of the meeting is to clarify interpretation of regulations and policies relied on by the department or hospital, provide an opportunity for submission and explanation of additional supporting documentation or information, and/or to verify accuracy of calculations and application of appropriate methodology for findings or administrative actions being appealed. Issues appealed by the provider will be addressed in writing by the department.

     (2) At the second level of dispute resolution:

     (a) For hospital rates issues, the dispute resolution conference is an informal administrative hearing conducted by an MAA administrator for the purpose of resolving contractor/provider rate disagreements with the department's action at the first level of appeal. The dispute resolution conference in this regard is not a formal adjudicative process held in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act.

     (b) For hospital audit issues, the audit dispute resolution hearing will be held by the office of administrative hearings in accordance with WAC 388-560-1000. This hearing is a formal proceeding and is governed by chapter 34.05 RCW.

     "Hospital facility fee" - See "facility triage fee."

     "Hospital market basket index" means a measure, expressed as a percentage, of the annual inflationary costs for hospital services, as measured by Data Resources, Inc. (DRI).

     "Hospital peer group" means the peer group categories adopted by the former Washington state hospital commission for rate-setting purposes:

     (1) Group A - rural hospitals paid under a ratio of costs-to-charges (RCC) methodology (same as peer group 1);

     (2) Group B - urban hospitals without medical education programs (same as peer group 2);

     (3) Group C - urban hospitals with medical education programs; and

     (4) Group D - specialty hospitals and/or hospitals not easily assignable to the other three peer groups.

     "Hospital selective contracting program" or "selective contracting" means a negotiated bidding program for hospitals within specified geographic areas to provide inpatient hospital services to medical assistance clients.

     "Indigent patient" means a patient who has exhausted any third-party sources, including Medicare and Medicaid, and whose income is equal to or below two hundred percent of the federal poverty standards (adjusted for family size), or is otherwise not sufficient to enable the individual to pay for his or her care, or to pay deductibles or coinsurance amounts required by a third-party payor.

     "Indirect medical education costs" means the indirect costs of providing an approved medical residency program as recognized by Medicare.

     "Inflation adjustment" means, for cost inflation, the hospital inflation adjustment. This adjustment is determined by using the inflation factor method and guidance indicated by the legislature in the budget notes to the biennium appropriations bill. For charge inflation, it means the inflation factor determined by comparing average discharge charges for the industry from one year to the next, as found in the comprehensive hospital abstract reporting system (CHARS) standard reports three and four.

     "Informed consent" means that an individual consents to a procedure after the provider who obtained a properly completed consent form has done all of the following:

     (1) Disclosed and discussed the patient's diagnosis;

     (2) Offered the patient an opportunity to ask questions about the procedure and to request information in writing;

     (3) Given the patient a copy of the consent form;

     (4) Communicated effectively using any language interpretation or special communication device necessary per 42 C.F.R. 441.257; and

     (5) Given the patient oral information about all of the following:

     (a) The patient's right to not obtain the procedure, including potential risks, benefits, and the consequences of not obtaining the procedure;

     (b) Alternatives to the procedure including potential risks, benefits, and consequences; and

     (c) The procedure itself, including potential risks, benefits, and consequences.

     "Inpatient hospital" means a hospital authorized by the department of health to provide inpatient services.

     "Inpatient hospital admission" means an admission ((as an inpatient)) to a hospital ((for a stay longer than twenty-four hours, or for a stay twenty-four hours or less with cases including:

     (1) The death of a client;

     (2) Obstetrical delivery;

     (3) Initial care of a newborn; or

     (4) Transfer to another acute care facility.

     To qualify for inpatient reimbursement, even when the stay is longer than twenty-four hours, the medical care record must evidence the need for inpatient care)) based on an evaluation of the client using objective clinical indicators for the purpose of providing medically necessary inpatient care, including assessment, monitoring, and therapeutic services as required to best manage the client's illness or injury, and that is documented in the client's medical record.

     "Inpatient services" means ((all)) healthcare services provided directly or indirectly ((by the hospital)) to a ((patient)) client subsequent to the client's inpatient hospital admission and prior to discharge((, and includes, but is not limited to, the following services: Bed and board; medical, nursing, surgical, pharmacy and dietary services; maternity services; psychiatric services; all diagnostic and therapeutic services required by the patient; the technical and/or professional components of certain services; use of hospital facilities, medical social services furnished by the hospital, and such drugs, supplies, appliances and equipment as required by the patient; transportation services subsequent to admission and prior to discharge; and services provided by the hospital within twenty-four hours of the patient's admission as an inpatient)).

     (("Inpatient stay" - See "inpatient hospital admission."))

     "Intermediary" - See "fiscal intermediary."

     "International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) Edition" means the systematic listing that transforms verbal descriptions of diseases, injuries, conditions and procedures into numerical or alpha numerical designations (coding).

     "Length of stay (LOS)" means the number of days of inpatient hospitalization. See also "PAS length of stay (LOS)."

     "Length of stay extension request" means a request from a hospital provider for the department, or in the case of psychiatric admission, the appropriate regional support network (RSN), to approve a client's hospital stay exceeding the average length of stay for the client's diagnosis and age.

     "Lifetime hospitalization reserve" means, under the Medicare Part A benefit, the nonrenewable sixty hospital days that a beneficiary is entitled to use during his or her lifetime for hospital stays extending beyond ninety days per benefit period. See also "reserve days."

     "Low-cost outlier" means a case with extraordinarily low costs when compared to other cases in the same DRG, in which the allowed charges before January 1, 2001, are less than ten percent of the applicable DRG payment or less than four hundred dollars. For dates of service on and after January 1, 2001, to qualify as a low-cost outlier, the allowed charges must be less than ten percent of the applicable DRG payment or less than four hundred and fifty dollars.

     "Low income utilization rate" means a formula represented as (A/B)+(C/D) in which:

     (1) The numerator A is the hospital's total patient services revenue under the state plan, plus the amount of cash subsidies for patient services received directly from state and local governments in a period;

     (2) The denominator B is the hospital's total patient services revenue (including the amount of such cash subsidies) in the same period as the numerator;

     (3) The numerator C is the hospital's total inpatient service charge attributable to charity care in a period, less the portion of cash subsidies described in (1) of this definition in the period reasonably attributable to inpatient hospital services. The amount shall not include contractual allowances and discounts (other than for indigent patients not eligible for medical assistance under the state plan); and

     (4) The denominator D is the hospital's total charge for inpatient hospital services in the same period as the numerator.

     "Major diagnostic category (MDC)" means one of the twenty-five mutually exclusive groupings of principal diagnosis areas in the DRG system. The diagnoses in each MDC correspond to a single major organ system or etiology and, in general, are associated with a particular medical specialty.

     "Market basket index" - See "hospital market basket index."

     "MDC" - See "major diagnostic category."

     "Medicaid" is the state and federally funded aid program that covers the categorically needy (CNP) and medically needy (MNP) programs.

     "Medicaid cost proxy" means a figure developed to approximate or represent a missing cost figure.

     "Medicaid inpatient utilization rate" means a formula represented as X/Y in which:

     (1) The numerator X is the hospital's number of inpatient days attributable to patients who (for such days) were eligible for medical assistance under the state plan in a period.

     (2) The denominator Y is the hospital's total number of inpatient days in the same period as the numerator's. Inpatient day includes each day in which an individual (including a newborn) is an inpatient in the hospital, whether or not the individual is in a specialized ward and whether or not the individual remains in the hospital for lack of suitable placement elsewhere.

     "Medical assistance administration (MAA)" is the administration within DSHS authorized by the secretary to administer the acute care portion of the Title XIX Medicaid, Title XXI children's health insurance program (CHIP), and the state-funded medical care programs, with the exception of certain nonmedical services for persons with chronic disabilities.

     "Medical assistance program" means both Medicaid and medical care services programs.

     "Medical care services" means the limited scope of care financed by state funds and provided to general assistance-unemployable (GAU) and ADATSA clients.

     "Medical education costs" means the expenses incurred by a hospital to operate and maintain a formally organized graduate medical education program.

     "Medical screening evaluation" means the service(s) provided by a physician or other practitioner to determine whether an emergent medical condition exists. See also "facility triage fee."

     "Medical stabilization" means a return to a state of constant and steady function. It is commonly used to mean the patient is adequately supported to prevent further deterioration.

     "Medically indigent person" means a person certified by the department of social and health services as eligible for the limited casualty program-medically indigent (LCP-MI) program. See also "indigent patient."

     "Medicare cost report" means the annual cost data reported by a hospital to Medicare on the HCFA form 2552.

     "Medicare crossover" means a claim involving a client who is eligible for both Medicare benefits and Medicaid.

     "Medicare fee schedule (MFS)" means the official HCFA publication of Medicare policies and relative value units for the resource based relative value scale (RBRVS) reimbursement program.

     "Medicare Part A" means that part of the Medicare program that helps pay for inpatient hospital services, which may include, but are not limited to:

     (1) A semi-private room;

     (2) Meals;

     (3) Regular nursing services;

     (4) Operating room;

     (5) Special care units;

     (6) Drugs and medical supplies;

     (7) Laboratory services;

     (8) X-ray and other imaging services; and

     (9) Rehabilitation services.

     Medicare hospital insurance also helps pay for post-hospital skilled nursing facility care, some specified home health care, and hospice care for certain terminally ill beneficiaries.

     "Medicare Part B" means that part of the Medicare program that helps pay for, but is not limited to:

     (1) Physician services;

     (2) Outpatient hospital services;

     (3) Diagnostic tests and imaging services;

     (4) Outpatient physical therapy;

     (5) Speech pathology services;

     (6) Medical equipment and supplies;

     (7) Ambulance;

     (8) Mental health services; and

     (9) Home health services.

     "Medicare buy-in premium" - See "buy-in premium."

     "Medicare payment principles" means the rules published in the federal register regarding reimbursement for services provided to Medicare clients.

     "Mentally incompetent" means a person who has been declared mentally incompetent by a federal, state, or local court of competent jurisdiction for any purpose, unless the person has been declared competent for purposes which include the ability to consent to sterilization.

     "Multiple occupancy rate" means the rate customarily charged for a hospital room with two to four patient beds.

     "Negotiated conversion factor (NCF)" means a negotiated hospital-specific dollar amount which is used in lieu of the cost-based conversion factor as the multiplier for the applicable DRG weight to determine the DRG payment for a selective contracting program hospital. See also "hospital conversion factor" and "cost-based conversion factor."

     "Nonallowed service or charge" means a service or charge that is not recognized for payment by the department, and cannot be billed to the client.

     "Noncontract hospital" means a licensed hospital located in a selective contracting area (SCA) but which does not have a contract to participate in the hospital selective contracting program.

     "Noncovered service or charge" means a service or charge that is not reimbursed by the department.

     "Nonemergent hospital admission" means any inpatient hospitalization of a patient who does not have an emergent condition, as defined in WAC 388-500-0005, Emergency services.

     "Nonparticipating hospital" means a noncontract hospital. See "noncontract hospital."

     "Observation services" means healthcare services furnished by a hospital on the hospital's premises, including use of a bed and periodic monitoring by hospital staff, which are reasonable and necessary to evaluate an outpatient's condition or determine the need for possible admission to the hospital as an inpatient.

     "Operating costs" means all expenses incurred in providing accommodation and ancillary services, excluding capital and medical education costs.

     "OPPS" - See "outpatient prospective payment system."

     "OPPS adjustment" means the legislative mandated reduction in the outpatient adjustment factor made to account for the delay of OPPS implementation.

     "OPPS outpatient adjustment factor" means the outpatient adjustment factor reduced by the OPPS and adjustment factor as a result of legislative mandate.

     "Orthotic device" or "orthotic" means a corrective or supportive device that:

     (1) Prevents or corrects physical deformity or malfunction; or

     (2) Supports a weak or deformed portion of the body.

     "Out-of-state hospital" means any hospital located outside the state of Washington and outside the designated border areas in Oregon and Idaho.

     "Outlier set-aside factor" means the amount by which a hospital's cost-based conversion factor is reduced for payments of high cost outlier cases.

     "Outlier set-aside pool" means the total amount of payments for high cost outliers which are funded annually based on payments for high cost outliers during the year.

     "Outliers" means cases with extraordinarily high or low costs when compared to other cases in the same DRG.

     "Outpatient" means a patient who is receiving medical services in other than an inpatient hospital setting.

     "Outpatient care" means medical care provided other than inpatient services in a hospital setting.

     "Outpatient hospital" means a hospital authorized by the department of health to provide outpatient services.

     "Outpatient hospital services" means those healthcare services that are within a hospital's licensure and provided to a client who is designated as an outpatient.

     "Outpatient observation" - See "observation services."

     "Outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS)" means ((a classification system that groups outpatient visits according to the clinical characteristics, and typical resource use and costs associated with their diagnoses and the procedures performed)) the payment system used by MAA to calculate reimbursement to hospitals for the facility component of outpatient services. This system uses ambulatory payment classifications (APCs) as the primary basis of payment.

     "Outpatient short stay" ((means an acute hospital stay of twenty-four hours or less, with the exception of cases involving:

     (1) The death of a client;

     (2) Obstetrical delivery;

     (3) Initial care of a new born; or

     (4) Transfer to another acute care facility.

     When the department determines that the need for inpatient care is not evidenced in the medical record, even in stays longer than twenty-four hours, the department considers and reimburses the stay as an outpatient short stay.

     "Outpatient stay" - See "outpatient short stay.")) - See "observation services" and "outpatient hospital services."

     "Outpatient surgery" means a surgical procedure that is not expected to require an inpatient hospital admission.

     "Pain treatment facility" means an MAA-approved inpatient facility for pain management, in which a multidisciplinary approach is used to teach clients various techniques to live with chronic pain.

     "Participating hospital" means a licensed hospital that accepts MAA clients.

     "PAS length of stay (LOS)" means the average length of an inpatient hospital stay for patients based on diagnosis and age, as determined by the Commission of Professional and Hospital Activities and published in a book entitled Length of Stay by Diagnosis, Western Region. See also "professional activity study (PAS)."

     "Patient consent" means the informed consent of the patient and/or the patient's legal guardian, as evidenced by the patient's or ((guardians's)) guardian's signature on a consent form, for the procedure(s) to be performed upon or for the treatment to be provided to the patient.

     "Peer group" - See "hospital peer group."

     "Peer group cap" means the reimbursement limit set for hospital peer groups B and C, established at the seventieth percentile of all hospitals within the same peer group for aggregate operating, capital, and direct medical education costs.

     "Per diem charge" means the daily room charge, per client, billed by the facility for room and board services that are covered by the department. This is sometimes referred to as "room rate."

     "Personal comfort items" means items and services which do not contribute meaningfully to the treatment of an illness or injury or the functioning of a malformed body member.

     "PM&R" - See "Acute PM&R."

     "Physician standby" means physician attendance without direct face-to-face patient contact and does not involve provision of care or services.

     "Physician's current procedural terminology (CPT)" - See "CPT."

     "Plan of treatment" or "plan of care" means the written plan of care for a patient which includes, but is not limited to, the physician's order for treatment and visits by the disciplines involved, the certification period, medications, and rationale indicating need for services.

     "Pregnant and postpartum women (PPW)" means eligible female clients who are pregnant or until the end of the month which includes the sixtieth day following the end of the pregnancy.

     "Principal diagnosis" means the condition established after study to be chiefly responsible for the admission of the patient to the hospital for care.

     "Principal procedure" means a procedure performed for definitive treatment rather than diagnostic or exploratory purposes, or because it was necessary due to a complication.

     "Prior authorization" means a process by which clients or providers must request and receive MAA approval for certain medical services, equipment, or supplies, based on medical necessity, before the services are provided to clients, as a precondition for provider reimbursement. Expedited prior authorization and limitation extension are forms of prior authorization.

     "Private room rate" means the rate customarily charged by a hospital for a one-bed room.

     "Professional activity study (PAS)" means the compilation of inpatient hospital data by diagnosis and age, conducted by the Commission of Professional and Hospital Activities, which resulted in the determination of an average length of stay for patients. The data are published in a book entitled Length of Stay by Diagnosis, Western Region.

     "Professional component" means the part of a procedure or service that relies on the physician's professional skill or training, or the part of a reimbursement that recognizes the physician's cognitive skill.

     "Prognosis" means the probable outcome of a patient's illness, including the likelihood of improvement or deterioration in the severity of the illness, the likelihood for recurrence, and the patient's probable life span as a result of the illness.

     "Prolonged service" means direct face-to-face patient services provided by a physician, either in the inpatient or outpatient setting, which involve time beyond what is usual for such services.

     "Prospective payment system (PPS)" means a system that sets payment rates for a predetermined period for defined services, before the services are provided. The payment rates are based on economic forecasts and the projected cost of services for the predetermined period.

     "Prosthetic device" or "prosthetic" means a replacement, corrective, or supportive device prescribed by a physician or other licensed practitioner of the healing arts, within the scope of his or her practice as defined by state law, to:

     (1) Artificially replace a missing portion of the body;

     (2) Prevent or correct physical deformity or malfunction;

     (3) Support a weak or deformed portion of the body.

     "Psychiatric hospitals" means Medicare-certified distinct part psychiatric units, Medicare-certified psychiatric hospitals, and state-designated pediatric distinct part psychiatric units in acute care hospitals. State-owned psychiatric hospitals are excluded.

     "Public hospital district" means a hospital district established under chapter 70.44 RCW.

     "Random claims sample" means a sample in which all of the items are selected randomly, using a random number table or computer program, based on a scientific method of assuring that each item has an equal chance of being included in the sample. See also "audit claims sample" and "stratified random sample."

     "Ratable" means a hospital-specific adjustment factor applied to the cost-based conversion factor (CBCF) to determine state-only program payment rates to hospitals.

     "Ratio of costs-to-charges (RCC)" means a method used to pay hospitals for services exempt from the DRG payment method. It also refers to the factor applied to a hospital's allowed charges for medically necessary services to determine payment to the hospital for these DRG-exempt services.

     "RCC" - See "ratio of costs-to-charges."

     "Rebasing" means the process of recalculating the hospital cost-based conversion factors or RCC using historical data.

     "Recalibration" means the process of recalculating DRG relative weights using historical data.

     "Regional support network (RSN)" means a county authority or a group of county authorities recognized and certified by the department, that contracts with the department per chapters 38.52, 71.05, 71.24, 71.34, and 74.09 RCW and chapters 275-54, 275-55, and 275-57 WAC.

     "Rehabilitation units" means specifically identified rehabilitation hospitals and designated rehabilitation units of general hospitals that meet Medicare criteria for distinct part rehabilitation units.

     "Relative weights" - See "DRG relative weights."

     "Remote hospitals" means hospitals that meet the following criteria during the hospital selective contracting (HSC) waiver application period:

     (1) Are located within Washington state;

     (2) Are more than ten miles from the nearest hospital in the HSC competitive area; and

     (3) Have fewer than seventy-five beds; and

     (4) Have fewer than five hundred Medicaid admissions within the previous waiver period.

     "Reserve days" means the days beyond the ninetieth day of hospitalization of a Medicare patient for a benefit period or spell of illness. See also "lifetime hospitalization reserve."

     "Retrospective payment system" means a system that sets payment rates for defined services according to historic costs. The payment rates reflect economic conditions experienced in the past.

     "Revenue code" means a nationally-assigned coding system for billing inpatient and outpatient hospital services, home health services, and hospice services.

     "Room and board" means the services a hospital facility provides a patient during the patient's hospital stay. These services include, but are not limited to, a routine or special care hospital room and related furnishings, routine supplies, dietary and nursing services, and the use of certain hospital equipment and facilities.

     "Rural health clinic" means a clinic that is located in areas designed by the Bureau of Census as rural and by the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (DHEW) as medically underserved.

     "Rural hospital" means a rural health care facility capable of providing or assuring availability of health services in a rural area.

     "Secondary diagnosis" means a diagnosis other than the principal diagnosis for which an inpatient is admitted to a hospital.

     "Selective contracting area (SCA)" means an area in which hospitals participate in negotiated bidding for hospital contracts. The boundaries of an SCA are based on historical patterns of hospital use by Medicaid patients.

     "Semi-private room rate" means a rate customarily charged for a hospital room with two to four beds; this charge is generally lower than a private room rate and higher than a ward room. See also "multiple occupancy rate."

     "Seven-day readmission" means the situation in which a ((patient)) client who was admitted as an inpatient and discharged from the hospital has returned to inpatient status to the same or a different hospital within seven days ((as a result of one or more of the following:

     (1) A new spell of illness;

     (2) Complication(s) from the first admission;

     (3) A therapeutic admission following a diagnostic admission;

     (4) A planned readmission following discharge; or

     (5) A premature hospital discharge)).

     (("Short stay" - See "outpatient short stay."))

     "Special care unit" means a department of health (DOH) or Medicare-certified hospital unit where intensive care, coronary care, psychiatric intensive care, burn treatment or other specialized care is provided.

     "Specialty hospitals" means children's hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, cancer research centers or other hospitals which specialize in treating a particular group of patients or diseases.

     "Spenddown" means the process of assigning excess income for the medically needy program, or excess income and/or resources for the medically indigent program, to the client's cost of medical care. The client must incur medical expenses equal to the excess income (spenddown) before medical care can be authorized.

     "Stat laboratory charges" means the charges by a laboratory for performing a test or tests immediately. "Stat." is the abbreviation for the Latin word "statim" meaning immediately.

     "State plan" means the plan filed by the department with the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), outlining how the state will administer Medicaid services, including the hospital program.

     "Stratified random sample" means a sample consisting of claims drawn randomly, using statistical formulas, from each stratum of a universe of paid claims stratified according to the dollar value of the claims. See also "audit claims sample" and "random claims sample."

     "Subacute care" means care provided to a patient which is less intensive than that given at an acute care hospital. Skilled nursing, nursing care facilities and other facilities provide subacute care services.

     "Surgery" means the medical diagnosis and treatment of injury, deformity or disease by manual and instrumental operations. For reimbursement purposes, surgical procedures are those designated in CPT as procedure codes 10000 to 69999.

     "Swing-bed day" means a day in which an inpatient is receiving skilled nursing services in a hospital designated swing bed at the hospital's census hour. The hospital swing bed must be certified by the health care financing administration (((HCPA))) (HCFA) for both acute care and skilled nursing services.

     "Teaching hospital" means, for purposes of the teaching hospital assistance program disproportionate share hospital (THAPDSH), the University of Washington Medical Center and Harborview Medical Center.

     "Technical component" means the part of a procedure or service that relates to the equipment set-up and technician's time, or the part of a reimbursement that recognizes the equipment cost and technician time.

     "Tertiary care hospital" means a specialty care hospital providing highly specialized services to clients with more complex medical needs than acute care services.

     "Total patient days" means all patient days in a hospital for a given reporting period, excluding days for skilled nursing, nursing care, and observation days.

     "Transfer" means to move a client from one acute care facility or distinct unit to another.

     "Transferring hospital" means the hospital or distinct unit that transfers a client to another acute care facility.

     "Trauma care facility" means a facility certified by the department of health as a level I, II, III, IV, or V facility. See chapter 246-976 WAC.

     "Trauma care service" - See department of health's WAC 246-976-935.

     "UB-92" means the uniform billing document intended for use nationally by hospitals, nonhospital-based acute PM&R (Level B) nursing facilities, hospital-based skilled nursing facilities, home health, and hospice agencies in billing third party payers for services provided to patients.

     "Unbundled services" means services which are excluded from the DRG payment to a hospital.

     "Uncompensated care" - See "charity care."

     "Uniform cost reporting requirements" means a standard accounting and reporting format as defined by Medicare.

     "Uninsured indigent patient" means an individual who has no health insurance coverage or has insufficient health insurance or other resources to cover the cost of provided inpatient and/or outpatient services.

     "Usual and customary charge (UCC)" means the charge customarily made to the general public for a procedure or service, or the rate charged other contractors for the service if the general public is not served.

     "Vendor rate increase" means an inflation adjustment determined by the legislature, used to periodically increase reimbursement to vendors, including health care providers, that do business with the state.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.057, 74.08.090, and Public Law 104-191. 03-19-043, § 388-550-1050, filed 9/10/03, effective 10/11/03. Statutory Authority: RCW 74.08.090 and 42 U.S.C. 1395 x(v), 42 C.F.R. 447.271, .11303, and .2652. 01-16-142, § 388-550-1050, filed 7/31/01, effective 8/31/01. Statutory Authority: RCW 74.08.090, 74.09.730, 42 U.S.C. 1395 x(v), 42 C.F.R. 447.271, .11303 and .2652. 99-14-039, § 388-550-1050, filed 6/30/99, effective 7/1/99. Statutory Authority: RCW 74.08.090, 42 USC 1395 x(v), 42 CFR 447.271, 447.11303, and 447.2652. 99-06-046, § 388-550-1050, filed 2/26/99, effective 3/29/99. Statutory Authority: RCW 74.08.090, 74.09.730, 74.04.050, 70.01.010, 74.09.200, [74.09.]500, [74.09.]530 and 43.20B.020. 98-01-124, § 388-550-1050, filed 12/18/97, effective 1/18/98.]

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