Can Medicare Bad Debts also be written-off to HCAP?
No. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has formally stated it will not allow a hospital to claim an account as both HCAP and Medicare Bad Debt. CMS takes the position that once a patient has applied and been found eligible for HCAP, the patient has no liability, so there is no bad debt to be claimed. Further, CMS states Ohio law forbids the hospital to follow its normal collection procedures on a patient account found eligible for HCAP, which would procedurally disqualify it as a Medicare Bad Debt.
