Home > Media Center > News > > > Midnight Rule

News Releases

Back to all News Releases

September 14, 2014 (Cleveland)

Crain's Quotes Bill Ryan on Midnight Rule



Midnight RuleOn Sunday, Sept. 14, 2014, The Center for Health Affairs' President and CEO Bill Ryan was quoted in a Crain's Cleveland Business piece on Medicare's "midnight rule."

In the piece, "Hospitals hoping time runs out on midnight rule," Timothy Magaw explains that last year, Medicare instituted a rule that stated patients needed two nights (specifically two midnights) in a hospital to qualify for inpatient-hospital rates.

Ryan weighed in on this "midnight rule" saying, “In many instances, you've got the pressure of the patient who says 'I'm fine, I want to go home.' And quite frankly, if the physician agrees, what are you supposed to do? Keep them an additional 15 minutes and tell them to just hold tight so you can get paid? It's not like it's a hotel and you just check-in.”

To read "Hospitals hoping time runs out on midnight rule" in full, visit the Crain's website.