Specifically, the bill:
- requires ambulatory care facilities to use a common billing form designated by the Commissioner (the “Commissioner”) of Health and Senior Services;
- requires ambulatory care facilities to report financial and patient clinical level data to the Department of Health and Senior Services;
- requires the Commissioner to make public the physician identification numbers reported pursuant to this bill to the extent that doing so complies with HIPAA;
- provides that an ambulatory care facility licensed to provide surgery and related services shall, in addition to such information as may be required to be reported, annually report the following information to the Department: (i) the number of patients served at the facility by payment source, including the number of Medicaid-eligible and medically indigent persons served; (ii) the number of new patients accepted at the facility; and (iii) the number of physicians, physician assistants and advance practice nurses providing professional services at the facility; and
- specifies that the requirements concerning the common billing form and financial and patient clinical level data reporting shall not apply to ambulatory care facilities that are licensed to provide family planning services. These facilities are exempted from the billing and reporting requirements because they are already subject to various State and federal reporting requirements.
Many services that once were performed on an inpatient basis are now performed in outpatient settings, including at ambulatory care facilities which are not hospital-based; however, only hospitals and hospital-based ambulatory care facilities are subject to uniform billing and financial and patient data reporting requirements.
Mr. Schaff (mschaff@wilentz.com) is a healthcare attorney and chair of the corporate and healthcare departments for Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer.
