U.S. Sens. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., and Ben Nelson, D-Neb., introduced the Preserving Patient Access to Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospitals Act of 2007 on Feb. 12. The bill would alter a CMS regulation that requires that 75% of patients at an inpatient rehabilitation hospital have at least one specified condition (stroke, brain injury, etc.). The legislation would extend indefinitely the current 60% compliance threshold. The 75% rule unfairly forces hospitals to turn away patients based on arbitrary compliance levels rather than actual medical needs and physician determinations, said Bunning in a statement. The bill would also allow rehabilitation hospitals to continue counting patients with comorbidities in their compliance percentage.
