“Observation Status” for Hospitalized Patients

Abstract

Hospitalized patients in the United States are increasingly placed on “observation status.”¹ The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) state that observation should rarely exceed 48 hours.² At our hospital, however, observation stays frequently exceed 48 hours, particularly for adult general medicine patients, as our research group recently reported in this journal.³ Reimbursement has not covered the costs, resulting in operating losses.³