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Title: Section 86-1.45 - Reimbursement for language assistance services in hospital inpatient settings

Effective Date

10/07/2015

86-1.45 - Reimbursement for language assistance services in hospital inpatient settings. For hospital inpatient services, in addition to the inpatient rates of payment computed in accordance with this Subpart, a separately billable rate of payment shall be available for providing language assistance services, if applicable, in accordance with the following:

(a) A discrete rate of payment for language interpretation services provided to patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) and communication services provided for patients who are deaf and hard of hearing will be established as follows:

(1) Payment will be established on a per unit basis with the unit of payment determined based on the number of minutes of language assistance service provided.

(2) A maximum of two billable units of language assistance services will be allowable per patient per day with the billable units defined as follows:

(i) 1st billable unit – for encounters providing up to and including the first 22 minutes of language assistance service.

(ii) 2nd billable unit – for encounters providing additional minutes (23+) beyond the initial 22 minutes of language assistance services during the given patient day.

(b) The rate of payment will be established at $11.00 per unit of language assistance service provided, with a maximum allowable payment per inpatient day of care of $22.00.

(c) To be reimbursable, the language assistance service must be provided by an independent third party, a dedicated hospital employee or a third party vendor (e.g., telephonic interpretation service) whose sole function is to provide interpretation services for individuals with LEP and communication services for people who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Volume

VOLUME A-2 (Title 10)

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