Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Challenging Medicare Policies On Patients On Hospital Observation

On September 23, 2013, a federal judge in Connecticut dismissed a federal lawsuit challenging Medicare policies on hospital patients placed on observation status. The lawsuit, Bagnall v. Sebelius, was filed in November 3, 2011 by the Center for Medicare Advocacy and the National Senior Citizens Law Center on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries nationwide who had been placed on "observation status” by a hospital. Medicare beneficiaries on observation are not formally admitted as hospital patients; instead, they are considered outpatients although observation takes place in a regular hospital unit and care is provided by hospital staff. Observation services are intended as . . .