42 CFR 415.162 – Determining payment for physician services furnished to beneficiaries in teaching hospitals
(a) General rule. Payments for direct medical and surgical services of physicians furnished to beneficiaries and supervision of interns and residents furnishing care to beneficiaries is made by Medicare on the basis of reasonable cost if the hospital exercises the election as provided for in § 415.160. If this election is made, the following occurs:
(1) Physician services furnished to beneficiaries and supervision of interns and residents furnishing care to beneficiaries are paid on a reasonable-cost basis, as provided for in paragraph (b) of this section.
(2) Payment for certain medical school costs may be made as provided for in paragraph (c) of this section.
(3) Payments for services donated by volunteer physicians to beneficiaries are made to a fund designated by the organized medical staff of the teaching hospital or medical school as provided for in paragraph (d) of this section.
(b) Reasonable cost of physician services and supervision of interns and residents. (1) Physician services furnished to beneficiaries and supervision of interns and residents furnishing care to beneficiaries in a teaching hospital are payable as provider services on a reasonable-cost basis.
(2) For purposes of this paragraph, reasonable cost is defined as the direct salary paid to these physicians, plus applicable fringe benefits.
(3) The costs must be allocated to the services as provided by paragraph (j) of this section and apportioned to program beneficiaries as provided by paragraph (g) of this section.
(4) Other allowable costs incurred by the provider related to the services described in this paragraph are payable subject to the requirements applicable to all other provider services.
(c) Reasonable costs for the services furnished by a medical school or related organization in a hospital. An amount is payable to the hospital by CMS under the Medicare program provided that the costs would be payable if incurred directly by the hospital rather than under the arrangement. The amount must not be in excess of the reasonable costs (as defined in paragraphs (c)(1) and (c)(2) of this section) incurred by a teaching hospital for services furnished by a medical school or organization as described in § 413.17 of this chapter for certain costs to the medical school (or a related organization) in furnishing services in the hospital.
(1) Reasonable costs of physician services—(i) When the medical school and the hospital are related organizations. If the medical school (or organization related to the medical school) and the hospital are related by common ownership or control as described in § 413.17 of this chapter—
(A) The costs of these services are allowable costs to the hospital under the provisions of § 413.17 of this chapter; and
(B) The reimbursable costs to the hospital are determined under the provisions of this section in the same manner as the costs incurred for physicians on the hospital staff and without regard to payments made to the medical school by the hospital.
(ii) When the medical school and the hospital are not related organizations. (A) If the medical school and the hospital are not related organizations under the provisions of § 413.17 of this chapter and the hospital makes payment to the medical school for the costs of those services furnished to all patients, payment is made by Medicare to the hospital for the reasonable cost incurred by the hospital for its payments to the medical school for services furnished to beneficiaries.
(B) Costs incurred under an arrangement must be allocated to the full range of services furnished to the hospital by the medical school physicians on the same basis as provided for under paragraph (j) of this section, and costs allocated to direct medical and surgical services furnished to hospital patients must be apportioned to beneficiaries as provided for under paragraph (g) of this section.
(C) If the medical school and the hospital are not related organizations under the provisions of § 413.17 of this chapter and the hospital makes payment to the medical school only for the costs of those services furnished to beneficiaries, costs of the medical school not to exceed 105 percent of the sum of physician direct salaries, applicable fringe benefits, employer’s portion of FICA taxes, Federal and State unemployment taxes, and workmen’s compensation paid by the medical school or an organization related to the medical school may be recognized as allowable costs of the medical school.
(D) These allowable medical school costs must be allocated to the full range of services furnished by the physicians of the medical school or organization related as provided by paragraph (j) of this section.
(E) Costs allocated to direct medical and surgical services furnished to hospital patients must be apportioned to beneficiaries as provided by paragraph (g) of this section.
(2) Reasonable costs of other than direct medical and surgical services. These costs are determined in accordance with paragraph (c)(1) of this section except that—
(i) If the hospital makes payment to the medical school for other than direct medical and surgical services furnished to beneficiaries and supervision of interns and residents furnishing care to beneficiaries, these payments are subject to the required cost-finding and apportionment methods applicable to the cost of other hospital services (except for direct medical and surgical services furnished to beneficiaries); or
(ii) If the hospital makes payment to the medical school only for these services furnished to beneficiaries, the cost of these services is not subject to cost-finding and apportionment as otherwise provided by this subpart, and the reasonable cost paid by Medicare must be determined on the basis of the health insurance ratio(s) used in the apportionment of all other provider costs (excluding physician direct medical and surgical services furnished to beneficiaries) applied to the allowable medical school costs incurred by the medical school for the services furnished to all patients of the hospital.
(d) “Salary equivalent” payments for direct medical and surgical services furnished by physicians on the voluntary staff of the hospital. (1) CMS makes payments under the Medicare program to a fund as defined in § 415.164 for direct medical and surgical services furnished to beneficiaries on a regularly scheduled basis by physicians on the unpaid voluntary medical staff of the hospital (or medical school under arrangement with the hospital).
(i) These payments represent compensation for contributed medical staff time which, if not contributed, would have to be obtained through employed staff on a payable basis.
(ii) Payments for volunteer services are determined by applying to the regularly scheduled contributed time an hourly rate not to exceed the equivalent of the average direct salary (exclusive of fringe benefits) paid to all full-time, salaried physicians (other than interns and residents) on the hospital staff or, if the number of full-time salaried physicians is minimal in absolute terms or in relation to the number of physicians on the voluntary staff, to physicians at like institutions in the area.
(iii) This “salary equivalent” is a single hourly rate covering all physicians regardless of specialty and is applied to the actual regularly scheduled time contributed by the physicians in furnishing direct medical and surgical services to beneficiaries including supervision of interns and residents in that care.
(iv) A physician who receives any compensation from the hospital or a medical school related to the hospital by common ownership or control (within the meaning of § 413.17 of this chapter) for direct medical and surgical services furnished to any patient in the hospital is not considered an unpaid voluntary physician for purposes of this paragraph.
(v) If, however, a physician receives compensation from the hospital or related medical school or organization only for services that are other than direct medical and surgical services, a salary equivalent payment for the physician’s regularly scheduled direct medical and surgical services to beneficiaries in the hospital may be imputed. However, the sum of the imputed value for volunteer services and the physician’s actual compensation from the hospital and the related medical school (or organization) may not exceed the amount that would have been imputed if all of the physician’s hospital and medical school services (compensated and volunteer) had been volunteer services, or paid at the rate of $30,000 per year, whichever is less.
(2) The following examples illustrate how the allowable imputed value for volunteer services is determined. In each example, it has been assumed that the average salary equivalent hourly rate is equal to the hourly rate for the individual physician’s compensated services.
Maximum amount allowable for all services performed by Dr. Smith for purposes of this computation $30,000 Less compensation received from Hospital X for other than direct medical services to individual patients $25,000 Allowable amount of imputed value for the volunteer services furnished by Dr. Smith $5,000
(3) The amount of the imputed value for volunteer services applicable to beneficiaries and payable to a fund is determined in accordance with the aggregate per diem method described in paragraph (g) of this section.
(4) Medicare payments to a fund must be used by the fund solely for improvement of care of hospital patients or for educational or charitable purposes (which may include but are not limited to medical and other scientific research).
(i) No personal financial gain, either direct or indirect, from benefits of the fund may inure to any of the hospital staff physicians, medical school faculty, or physicians for whom Medicare imputes costs for purposes of payment into the fund.
(ii) Expenses met from contributions made to the hospital from a fund are not included as a reimbursable cost when expended by the hospital, and depreciation expense is not allowed with respect to equipment or facilities donated to the hospital by a fund or purchased by the hospital from monies in a fund.
(e) Requirements for payment—(1) Physicians on the hospital staff. The requirements under which the costs of physician direct medical and surgical services (including supervision of interns and residents) to beneficiaries are the same as those applicable to the cost of all other covered provider services except that the costs of these services are separately determined as provided by this section and are not subject to cost-finding as described in § 413.24 of this chapter.
(2) Physicians on the medical school faculty. Payment is made to a hospital for the costs of services of physicians on the medical school faculty, provided that if the medical school is not related to the hospital (within the meaning of § 413.17 of this chapter, concerning cost to related organizations), the hospital does not make payment to the medical school for services furnished to all patients and the following requirements are met: If the hospital makes payment to the medical school for services furnished to all patients, these requirements do not apply. (See paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section.)
(i) There is a written agreement between the hospital and the medical school or organization, specifying the types and extent of services to be furnished by the medical school and specifying that the hospital must pay to the medical school an amount at least equal to the reasonable cost (as defined in paragraph (c) of this section) of furnishing the services to beneficiaries.
(ii) The costs are paid to the medical school by the hospital no later than the date on which the cost report covering the period in which the services were furnished is due to CMS.
(iii) Payment for the services furnished under an arrangement would have been made to the hospital had the services been furnished directly by the hospital.
(3) Physicians on the voluntary staff of the hospital (or medical school under arrangement with the hospital). If the conditions for payment to a fund outlined in § 415.164 are met, payments are made on a “salary equivalent” basis (as defined in paragraph (d) of this section) to a fund.
(f) Requirements for payment for medical school faculty services other than physician direct medical and surgical services. If the requirements for payment for physician direct medical and surgical services furnished to beneficiaries in a teaching hospital described in paragraph (e) of this section are met, payment is made to a hospital for the costs of medical school faculty services other than physician direct medical and surgical services furnished in a teaching hospital.
(g) Aggregate per diem methods of apportionment—(1) For the costs of physician direct medical and surgical services. The cost of physician direct medical and surgical services furnished in a teaching hospital to beneficiaries is determined on the basis of an average cost per diem as defined in paragraph (h)(1) of this section for physician direct medical and surgical services to all patients (see §§ 415.172 through 415.184) for each of the following categories of physicians:
(i) Physicians on the hospital staff.
(ii) Physicians on the medical school faculty.
(2) For the imputed value of physician volunteer direct medical and surgical services. The imputed value of physician direct medical and surgical services furnished to beneficiaries in a teaching hospital is determined on the basis of an average per diem, as defined in paragraph (h)(1) of this section, for physician direct medical and surgical services to all patients except that the average per diem is derived from the imputed value of the physician volunteer direct medical and surgical services furnished to all patients.
(h) Definitions. (1) Average cost per diem for physician direct medical and surgical services (including supervision of interns and residents) furnished in a teaching hospital to patients in each category of physician services described in paragraph (g)(1) of this section means the amount computed by dividing total reasonable costs of these services in each category by the sum of—
(i) Inpatient days (as defined in paragraph (h)(2) of this section); and
(ii) Outpatient visit days (as defined in paragraph (h)(3) of this section).
(2) Inpatient days are determined by counting the day of admission as 3.5 days and each day after a patient’s day of admission, except the day of discharge, as 1 day.
(3) Outpatient visit days are determined by counting only one visit day for each calendar day that a patient visits an outpatient department or multiple outpatient departments.
(i) Application. (1) The following illustrates how apportionment based on the aggregate per diem method for costs of physician direct medical and surgical services furnished in a teaching hospital to patients is determined.
Total inpatient days as defined in paragraph (h)(2) of this section and outpatient visit days as defined in paragraph (h)(3) of this section 75,000 Total inpatient Part A days 20,000 Total inpatient Part B days where Part A coverage is not available 1,000 Total outpatient Part B visit days 5,000 Total cost of direct medical and surgical services furnished to all patients by physicians on the hospital staff as determined in accordance with paragraph (i) of this section $1,500,000 Total cost of direct medical and surgical services furnished to all patients by physicians on the medical school faculty as determined in accordance with paragraph (i) of this section $1,650,000
Computation of cost applicable to program for physicians on the hospital staff:
Average cost per diem for direct medical and surgical services to patients by physicians on the hospital staff: $1,500,000 ÷ 75,000 = $20 per diem.
| Cost of physician direct medical and surgical services furnished to inpatient beneficiaries covered under Part A: $20 per diem × 20,000 | $400,000 |
| Cost of physician direct medical and surgical services furnished to inpatient beneficiaries covered under Part B: $20 per diem × 1,000 | $20,000 |
| Cost of physician direct medical and surgical services furnished to outpatient beneficiaries covered under Part B: $20 per diem × 5,000 | $100,000 |
Computation of cost applicable to program for physicians on the medical school faculty:
Average cost per diem for direct medical and surgical services to patients by physicians on the medical school faculty: $1,650,000 ÷ 75,000 = $22 per diem.
| Cost of physician direct medical and surgical services furnished to inpatient beneficiaries covered under Part A: $22 per diem × 20,000 | $440,000 |
| Cost of physician direct medical and surgical services furnished to inpatient beneficiaries covered under Part B: $20 per diem × 1,000 | $22,000 |
| Cost of physician direct medical and surgical services furnished to outpatient beneficiaries covered under Part B: $22 per diem × 5,000 | $110,000 |
(2) The following illustrates how the imputed value of physician volunteer direct medical and surgical services furnished in a teaching hospital to beneficiaries is determined.
| Total salaries paid to the full-time salaried physicians by the hospital (excluding interns and residents) | $800,000 |
| Total physicians who were paid for an average of 40 hours per week or 2,080 (52 weeks × 40 hours per week) hours per year | 20 |
| Average hourly rate equivalent: $800,000 ÷ 41,600 (2,080 × 20) | $19.23 |
Computation of total imputed value of physician volunteer services applicable to all patients:
| (Total donated hours × average hourly rate equivalent): 5,000 × $19.23 | $96,150 |
| Total inpatient days (as defined in paragraph (h)(2) of this section) and outpatient visit days (as defined in paragraph (h)(3) of this section) | 75,000 |
| Total inpatient Part A days | 20,000 |
| Total inpatient Part B days if Part A coverage is not available | 1,000 |
| Total outpatient Part B visit days | 5,000 |
Computation of imputed value of physician volunteer direct medical and surgical services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries:
Average per diem for physician direct medical and surgical services to all patients: $96,150 ÷ 75,000 = $1.28 per diem
| Imputed value of physician direct medical and surgical services furnished to inpatient beneficiaries covered under Part A: $1.28 per diem × 20,000 | $25,600 |
| Imputed value of physician direct medical and surgical services furnished to inpatient beneficiaries covered under Part B: $1.28 per diem × 1,000 | $1,280 |
| Imputed value of physician direct medical and surgical services furnished to outpatient beneficiaries covered under Part B: $1.28 per diem × 5,000 | $6,400 |
| Total | $33,280 |
(j) Allocation of compensation paid to physicians in a teaching hospital. (1) In determining reasonable cost under this section, the compensation paid by a teaching hospital, or a medical school or related organization under arrangement with the hospital, to physicians in a teaching hospital must be allocated to the full range of services implicit in the physician compensation arrangements. (However, see paragraph (d) of this section for the computation of the “salary equivalent” payments for volunteer services furnished to patients.)
(2) This allocation must be made and must be capable of substantiation on the basis of the proportion of each physician’s time spent in furnishing each type of service to the hospital or medical school.