An AI model extracted this from the bill’s official record and can make mistakes. Check the official text ↗ (opens in new tab)

Long-term care hospital (LTCH)

A special type of hospital that provides extended, intensive medical and rehabilitative care for patients who are critically ill or have complex medical conditions requiring hospital-level care for an average of 25 days or more.

Site-neutral payments

A Medicare policy designed to pay the same amount for a service regardless of where it is provided (e.g., in a hospital's outpatient department versus an independent clinic). For long-term care hospitals, it means paying them similar rates to other facilities for certain patient types.

High acuity criterion

A new condition specified in this bill that identifies a patient as severely ill or having complex medical needs, making their hospital discharge eligible for a different, potentially higher, Medicare payment rate.

Medicare-Severity-Long-Term-Care-Diagnosis-Related-Group (MS-LTC-DRG)

A system used by Medicare to classify long-term care hospital patients into groups based on their diagnosis, medical procedures, and severity of illness. Each group has a specific payment rate.

Relative weight

A numerical value assigned to each MS-LTC-DRG that reflects the average resources (cost) required to treat patients in that group. A higher relative weight indicates a more costly and typically more severe case.