When a hospital's ownership changes, as described in § 489.18 of this chapter, the following rules apply:
(a) Payment for the operating and capital-related costs of inpatient hospital services for each patient, including outlier payments, as provided in § 412.112, and payments for hemophilia clotting factor costs under § 412.115(b), are made to the entity that is the legal owner on the date of discharge. Payments are not prorated between the buyer and seller.
- (1) The owner on the date of discharge is entitled to submit a bill for all inpatient hospital services furnished to a beneficiary regardless of when the beneficiary's coverage began or ended during a stay, or of how long the stay lasted.
- (2) Each bill submitted must include all information necessary for the intermediary to compute the payment amount, whether or not some of that information is attributable to a period during which a different party legally owned the hospital.
- (b) Other payments under § 412.113 and payments for bad debts as described in § 412.115(a), are made to each owner or operator of the hospital (buyer and seller) in accordance with the principles of reasonable cost reimbursement.
[50 FR 12741, Mar. 29, 1985, as amended at 56 FR 43449, Aug. 30, 1991]