Last October a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was posted by CMS. It was recently finalized and will be in effect October 1st. It will allow for greater flexibility for RHCs contracting with NPs, PAs, CPs and CSWs.
Revise § 405.2468(b)(1) by removing the parenthetical “RHCs are not paid for services furnished by contracted individuals other than physicians, ” and revising § 491.8(a)(3) to allow non-physician practitioners to furnish services under contract in RHCs, when at least one NP or PA is employed.
So the rule still stands – one NP or PA must be employed by the RHC (Section 1861(aa)(2)(iii) of the Act) – employed is interpreted to mean that the employer issues a W-2 form to the employee, but beginning Oct. 1st, RHCs can be paid for services furnished by contracted individuals other than physicians, (as long as the one NP or PA is employed).
