(a) Scope. This section establishes the criteria that VA uses to determine whether a VA medical facility is designated as provider-based for purposes of billing for non-service-connected and non-special treatment authority conditions.

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(b) Definitions. For purposes of this section:

Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC). A CBOC is a VA-operated, VA-funded, or VA-reimbursed site of care that is not located within a VA Medical Center. A CBOC can provide primary, specialty, subspecialty, mental health, or any combination of health care delivery services that can be appropriately provided in an outpatient setting.

Community Living Center (CLC). A CLC is a component of the spectrum of long-term care that provides a skilled nursing environment and houses a variety of specialty programs for persons needing short and long stay services. VA CLCs are typically located on, or near a VA medical facility and are VA-owned and operated, but may be free-standing in the community.

Facility. A facility is a point of care where individuals can seek VA health care services, to include a VA Medical Center, CBOC, Health Care Center, CLC, and Other Outpatient Services site.

Health Care Center (HCC). An HCC is a VA-owned, VA-leased, VA-contracted or shared clinic that is operational at least five days per week and provides primary care, mental health care, on site specialty services, and performs ambulatory surgery and/or invasive procedures that may require moderate sedation or general anesthesia.

Main provider. A main provider (or parent facility/hospital or provider-based hospital (PBH)) is a provider that either creates, or acquires ownership of, another facility to deliver additional health care services under its name, ownership, and financial and administrative control. For example, VA Medical Centers and HCCs can be main providers.

Other Outpatient Services (OOS). A site that provides outpatient services to veterans, but does not meet the definition of a CBOC or HCC per this section.

Prospective Payment System (PPS). A Prospective Payment System (PPS) is a method of reimbursement in which Medicare payment is made based on a predetermined, fixed amount. The payment amount for a particular service is derived based on the classification system of that service (for example, Medicare Severity Diagnosis-Related Groups for inpatient hospital services furnished by most acute care hospitals).

Provider-based outpatient facility (PBO). A provider-based outpatient facility is a provider of health care services that is either created by, or acquired by, a main provider for the purpose of furnishing additional health care services under the ownership, administrative, and financial control of the main provider, and meets the criteria outlined in this section.

Remote location of a hospital. A remote location of a hospital is a CBOC, OOS Site, or HCC that is located offsite from the main facility.

VA Medical Center (VAMC). A VAMC is a VA facility that provides at least two categories of care (inpatient, outpatient, residential, or institutional extended care).

(c) Criteria for provider-based status. In order to be designated as a provider-based facility, the following criteria must be met:

(1) Licensure. The facility seeking provider-based status and the main provider must operate under the same license. VA facilities are not licensed by States but all VA facilities are considered licensed for the purpose of collection and recovery by VA as part of VA’s national organization structure and in accordance with VA standards, including standards established or recognized by VA’s Offices of the Medical Inspector and Inspector General and major healthcare accreditation organizations.

(2) Clinical services. The clinical services of the facility seeking provider-based status and the main provider must be integrated. Integration is demonstrated by the following:

(i) The professional staff of the facility has clinical privileges at the main provider.

(ii) The main provider maintains the same monitoring and oversight (i.e. credentialing and privileging) of the facility seeking provider-based status as it does for any other department of the provider.

(iii) The medical director of the facility seeking provider-based status maintains a reporting relationship with the chief medical officer or other similar official of the main provider that has the same frequency, intensity, and level of accountability that exists in the relationship between the medical director of a department of the main provider and the chief medical officer or other similar official of the main provider, and is under the same type of supervision and accountability as any other director, medical or otherwise, of the main provider.

(iv) The medical staff committees or other professional committees at the main provider are responsible for medical activities in the facility seeking provider-based status, including quality assurance, utilization review, and the coordination and integration of services, to the extent practicable, between the facility seeking provider-based status and the main provider.

(v) Medical records for patients treated in the facility seeking provider-based status are integrated into a unified retrieval system (or cross reference) of the main provider.

(vi) Inpatient and outpatient services of the facility seeking provider-based status and the main provider are integrated, and patients treated at the facility who require further care have full access to all services of the main provider and are referred where appropriate to the corresponding inpatient or outpatient department or service of the main provider.

(vii) Inpatient and outpatient services of the facility seeking provider-based status and the main provider are recognized under the main provider’s accreditation.

(3) Financial integration. The financial operations of the facility seeking provider-based status are fully integrated within the financial system of the main provider, as evidenced by shared income and expenses between the main provider and the facility. The costs of a facility that is a hospital department are reported in a cost center of the provider, costs of a facility other than a hospital department are reported in the appropriate cost center or cost centers of the main provider. The main provider’s integrated health care system manpower and labor budget and the financial status of any facility seeking provider-based status is incorporated and readily identified in the main provider’s integrated system reports.

(4) Public awareness. The facility seeking provider-based status must be held out to the public (and other payers) as part of the main provider. Patients of the facility must be made aware that the facility is part of a main provider and that they will be billed accordingly. All literature, brochures, and public relations newsletters from the facility seeking provider-based status must provide the relationship between the main provider and the facility.

(5) Obligations of hospital outpatient departments and hospital-based facilities. If the facility seeking provider-based status is a hospital outpatient department or hospital-based facility, the facility must fulfill the obligations described in this paragraph:

(i) The hospital outpatient department must comply with the antidumping rules of 42 CFR 489.20(l), (m), (q), and (r) and § 489.24.

(ii) Physician services furnished in hospital outpatient departments or hospital-based facilities must be billed with the correct site-of-service so that appropriate physician and practitioner payment amounts can be determined based on their geographical location.

(iii) Physicians who work in hospital outpatient departments or hospital-based facilities are obligated to comply with the non-discrimination provisions in 42 CFR 489.10(b).

(iv) Hospital outpatient departments must treat all Medicare patients seen on an urgent/emergent basis as hospital outpatients.

(v) In the case of a patient admitted to the hospital as an inpatient after receiving treatment in the hospital outpatient department or hospital-based facility, payments for services in the hospital outpatient department or hospital-based facility are subject to the payment window provisions applicable to PPS hospitals and to hospitals and units excluded from PPS set forth at 42 CFR 412.2(c)(5) and at 42 CFR 413.40(c)(2), respectively.

(vi) The hospital outpatient department must meet applicable VA policies pertaining to hospital health and safety programs.

(vii) VA must treat any facility that is located on the main hospital campus as a department of the hospital.

(6) Operation under the control of the main provider. The facility seeking provider-based status is operated under the control of the main provider. Control of the main provider requires:

(i) The main provider and the facility seeking provider-based status have the same governing body.

(ii) The facility seeking provider-based status is operated under the same organizational documents as the main provider. For example, the facility seeking provider-based status must be subject to common bylaws and operating decisions of the governing body of the main provider.

(iii) The main provider has final responsibility for administrative decisions, final approval for contracts with outside parties, final approval for personnel actions, final responsibility for personnel policies (such as code of conduct), and final approval for medical staff appointments in the facility seeking provider-based status.

(7) Administration and Supervision. The reporting relationship between the facility seeking provider-based status and the main provider must have the same frequency, intensity, and level of accountability that exists in the relationship between the main provider and one of its existing departments, as evidenced by compliance with all of the following requirements:

(i) The facility seeking provider-based status is under the direct supervision of the main provider.

(ii) The facility seeking provider-based status is operated under the same monitoring and oversight by the main provider as any other department of the provider, and is operated just as any other department of the provider with regard to supervision and accountability. The facility director or individual responsible for daily operations at the facility:

(A) Maintains a reporting relationship with a manager at the main provider that has the same frequency, intensity, and level of accountability that exists in the relationship between the main provider and its existing departments; and

(B) Is accountable to the governing body of the main provider, in the same manner as any department head of the provider.

(iii) The following administrative functions of the facility seeking provider-based status are integrated with those of the main provider where the facility is based: Billing services, records, human resources, payroll, employee benefit package, salary structure, and purchasing services. Either the same employees or group of employees handle these administrative functions for the facility and the main provider, or the administrative functions for both the facility and the main provider are contracted out under the same contract agreement; or are handled under different contract agreements, with the contract of the facility or organization being managed by the main provider.

(d) Illustrations of how the criteria are applied. (1) A VA facility that is seeking provider-based status that exists under contract arrangements, where only VA patients are seen, may be designated as provider-based if the provider-based requirements in this section are met.

(2) A VA facility seeking provider-based status that exists under contract arrangements, where VA patients and non-VA patients are seen at the same non-VA owned facility, will have the same provider-based status as the non-VA owned facility that is hosting the VA facility.

(3) A VA owned and operated facility seeking provider-based status, where some or all of the staff are contracted employees, may be designated as provider-based if the provider-based requirements in this section are met.

[85 FR 53174, Aug. 28, 2020]