The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced yesterday it will extend a Congressional delay of Recovery Auditors’ (RA) audits of the “two-midnight” rule, which is used to determine whether a patient should be classified as inpatient or outpatient. Congress passed an enforcement delay that is set to expire on September 30, 2015. CMS, however, stated on its website that it will extend the delay of RA audits through December 31, 2015. Beginning January 1, 2016, RAs may conduct audits of providers that have been referred to an RA as exhibiting ongoing noncompliance with CMS payment policies (or with the “two-midnight” rule).

CMS’ announcement regarding the extension of the enforcement delay can be found here.