A new issue is affecting some inpatient hospital and Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) claims when an interrupted stay is billed at the end of the month. The system incorrectly assigns edits U5601-U5608 (overlapping a hospital claim). If you billed the interrupted stay correctly, and your claim is rejected, modify your billing so the claim spans past the last day of the interrupted stay:

• Bill two months at a time, or

• Bill a month plus the days in the following month that span the interrupted stay plus 1 day

Adjusting the statement covered from and through dates to encompass the entire interrupted stay will allow your claim to process and pay correctly. Medicare Administrative Contractors will finalize any suspended claims that meet the criteria, so you can make corrections and resubmit your claim.

If we rejected an inpatient hospital claim, the hospital should ask the SNF to modify their claim. Until October 5, a SNF cannot submit an adjustment to a paid claim; they must cancel the paid claim and all subsequent claims in the same stay and resubmit them in sequential order.

CMS will correct the system in the future.

The above is found in the July 23, 2020 MLN Connects (CMS).  Be sure to convey this information to your billers.

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