(a) Statutory basis. This section implements section 1861(v)(1)(A) of the Act and section 4004(b) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-508) by establishing the methodology for Medicare payment of the costs of approved nursing and allied health education activities.

(b) Scope. (1) This section sets forth the rules for determining Medicare payments to hospitals for the costs of nursing and allied health education activities.

(2) This section does not address Medicare payments for the direct and indirect costs of graduate medical education (that is, approved residency programs in medicine, osteopathy, dentistry, and podiatry). Medicare payment for these costs is determined as provided in § 412.105 of this subchapter and §§ 413.75 through 413.83.

(3) The rules under this section do not apply to activities that are specified in paragraph (h) of this section and identified as normal operating costs.

(c) Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

Approved educational activities means formally organized or planned programs of study of the type that:

(1) Are operated by providers as specified in paragraph (f) of this section;

(2) Enhance the quality of health care at the provider; and

(3) Meet the requirements of paragraph (e) of this section for State licensure or accreditation.

Classroom instruction costs are those costs associated with formal, didactic instruction on a specific topic or subject in a class that meets at regular, scheduled intervals over a specific time period (for example, semester or quarter), and for which a student receives a grade.

Clinical training costs means costs of training for the acquisition and use of the skills of a nursing or allied health profession or trade in the actual environment in which these skills will be used by the student upon graduation. Clinical training may involve occasional or periodic meetings to discuss or analyze cases, critique performance, or discuss specific skills or techniques; it involves no classroom instruction.

Community support means funding that is provided by the community and generally includes all non-Medicare sources of funding (other than payments made for furnishing services to individual patients), including State and local government appropriations. Community support does not include grants, gifts, and endowments of the kind that are not to be offset in accordance with section 1134 of the Act.

Redistribution of costs means an attempt by a provider to increase the amount, or to expand the types, of the costs of educational activities that are allowed for Medicare payment purposes by claiming costs that previously were not claimed by the provider and were considered costs of an educational institution. For example, costs for a school of nursing or allied health education or a medical school that were incurred by an educational institution and were not allowable to the provider in its prospective payment or rate-of-increase limit base year cost report, or graduate medical education per resident amount calculated under §§ 413.75 through 413.83, are not allowable costs in subsequent fiscal years.

(d) General payment rules. (1) Payment for a provider's net cost of nursing and allied health education activities is determined on a reasonable cost basis, subject to the following conditions and limitations:

(i) An approved educational activity—

(A) Is recognized by a national approving body or State licensing authority as specified in paragraph (e) of this section;

(B) Meets the criteria specified in paragraph (f) of this section for identification as an operator of an approved education program.

(C) Enhance the quality of health care at the provider.

(ii) The cost for certain nonprovider-operated programs are reimbursable on a reasonable cost basis if the programs meet the criteria specified in paragraph (g)(2) of this section.

(iii) The costs of certain nonprovider-operated programs at wholly owned subsidiary educational institutions are reimbursable on a reasonable cost basis if the provisions of paragraph (g)(3) of this section are met.

(2) Determination of net cost. (i) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (d)(2)(iii) of this section, the net cost of approved educational activities is determined by deducting the revenues that a provider receives from tuition and student fees from the provider's total allowable educational costs that are directly related to approved educational activities.

(ii) A provider's total allowable educational costs are those costs incurred by the provider for trainee stipends, compensation of teachers, and other costs of the activities as determined under the Medicare cost-finding principles in § 413.24. These costs do not include patient care costs, costs incurred by a related organization, or costs that constitute a redistribution of costs from an educational institution to a provider or costs that have been or are currently being provided through community support.

(iii) The net costs of approved certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) education programs that are determined on a reasonable cost basis are subject to the additional condition that allowable compensation costs for faculty members who are CRNAs are limited to the compensation costs for administrative activities related to the educational program, the compensation costs directly related to hours spent in classroom instruction, and the costs related to the clinical training of students for which the CRNA may not receive payment under the CRNA fee schedule. No pass-through compensation costs are allowable for the time a CRNA spends in the clinical training of a student anesthetist during a surgical procedure in the operating room for which the CRNA may receive payment under the CRNA fee schedule. As specified at § 414.46 of this chapter, if the CRNA continuously supervises the services of a single student nurse anesthetist, or where the medical direction rules allow a CRNA to bill for the service, payment can be made under the CRNA fee schedule.

(iv) Net costs are subject to apportionment for Medicare utilization as described in § 413.50.

(e) Approved nursing and allied health education programs. CMS will consider an activity an approved nursing and allied health education program if the program is a planned program of study that is licensed by State law, or if licensing is not required, is accredited by the recognized national professional organization for the particular activity. Such national accrediting bodies include, but are not limited to, the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, the National League of Nursing Accrediting Commission, the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education Inc., and the American Dietetic Association.

(f) Criteria for identifying programs operated by a provider. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (f)(2) of this section, for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 1983, in order to be considered the operator of an approved nursing or allied health education program, a provider must meet all of the following requirements:

(i) Directly incur the training costs.

(ii) Have direct control of the program curriculum. (A provider may enter into an agreement with an educational institution to furnish basic academic courses required for completion of the program, but the provider must provide all of the courses relating to the theory and practice of the nursing or allied health profession involved that are required for the degree, diploma, or certificate awarded at the completion of the program.)

(iii) Control the administration of the program, including collection of tuition (where applicable), control the maintenance of payroll records of teaching staff or students, or both (where applicable), and be responsible for day-to-day program operation. (A provider may contract with another entity to perform some administrative functions, but the provider must maintain control over all aspects of the contracted functions.)

(iv) Employ the teaching staff.

(v) Provide and control both classroom instruction and clinical training (where classroom instruction is a requirement for program completion), subject to the parenthetical sentence in paragraph (f)(1)(ii) of this section.

(2) Absent evidence to the contrary, the provider that issues the degree, diploma, or other certificate upon successful completion of an approved education program is assumed to meet all of the criteria set forth in paragraph (f)(1) of this section and to be the operator of the program.

(g) Payment for certain nonprovider-operated programs—(1) Payment rule. Costs incurred by a provider, or by an educational institution that is related to the provider by common ownership or control (that is, a related organization as defined in § 413.17(b)), for the clinical training of students enrolled in an approved nursing or allied health education program that is not operated by the provider, are paid on a reasonable cost basis if the conditions specified in paragraph (g)(2) of this section are met.

(2) Criteria for identification of nonprovider-operated education programs. Payment for the incurred costs of educational activities identified in paragraph (g)(1) of this section will be made if the following conditions are met:

(i) The clinical training must occur on the premises of the provider, that is, in the hospital itself or in the physical area immediately adjacent to the provider's main buildings, or in other areas and structures that are not strictly contiguous to the main buildings but are located within 250 yards of the main buildings.

(ii) The provider must have claimed and been paid for clinical training costs on a reasonable cost basis during the most recent cost reporting period that ended on or before October 1, 1989. This condition is met if a notice of program reimbursement (NPR) was issued for that cost reporting period by November 5, 1990, and the clinical training costs were included as pass-through costs. If an NPR was not issued by that date, or an NPR was issued but did not treat the clinical training costs as pass-through costs, the condition is met if—

(A) The contractor included the clinical training costs in the allowable costs used to determine the interim rate for the most recent cost reporting period ending on or before October 1, 1989; or

(B) The provider claimed the clinical training costs as pass-through costs when the cost report for the most recent cost reporting period ending on or before October 1, 1989, was initially submitted.

(iii) In any cost reporting period, the percentage of total allowable provider cost attributable to allowable clinical training cost does not exceed the percentage of total cost for clinical training in the provider's most recent cost reporting period ending on or before October 1, 1989.

(iv) The students in the educational program must provide a benefit to the provider through the provision of clinical services to patients of the provider.

(v) The clinical training costs must be incurred by the provider or by an educational institution related to the provider by common control or ownership as defined in § 413.17(b) (“Cost to related organizations.”) Costs incurred by a third-party, regardless of its relationship to either the provider or the educational institution, are not allowed.

(vi) The costs incurred by a provider does not exceed the costs the provider would have incurred if it was the sole operator of the program.

(3) Special rule: Payment for certain nonprovider-operated programs at wholly owned subsidiary educational institutions. (i) Effective for portions of cost reporting periods occurring on or after October 1, 2003, a provider that incurs costs for a nursing or allied health education program(s) where those program(s) had originally been provider-operated according to the criteria at paragraph (f) of this section, and then operation of the program(s) was transferred to a wholly owned subsidiary educational institution in order to meet accreditation standards prior to October 1, 2003, and where the provider has continuously incurred the costs of both the classroom and clinical training portions of the program(s) at the educational institution, may receive reasonable cost payment for such a program(s) according to the specifications under paragraphs (g)(3)(ii) and (g)(3)(iii) of this section.

(ii) Payment for the incurred costs of educational activities identified in paragraph (g)(3)(i) of this section will be made on a reasonable cost basis if a provider, as described in paragraph (g)(3)(i) of this section, received Medicare reasonable cost payment for those nursing and allied health education program(s) both prior and subsequent to the date the provider transferred operation of the program(s) to its wholly owned subsidiary educational institution (and ceased to be a provider-operated program(s) according to the criteria under paragraph (f) of this section).

(iii) The provider that meets the requirements in paragraphs (g)(3)(i) and (g)(3)(ii) of this section will be eligible to receive payment under this paragraph for: (A) the clinical training costs incurred for the program(s) as described in paragraph (g)(3)(i) of this section; and (B) classroom costs, but only those costs incurred by the provider for the courses that were included in the programs.

(h) Cost of educational activities treated as normal operating costs. The costs of the following educational activities incurred by a provider but not operated by that provider are recognized only as normal operating costs and paid in accordance with the reimbursement principles specified in Part 412 of this subchapter. They include:

(1) Orientation and on-the-job training.

(2) Part-time education for bona fide full-time employees at properly accredited academic or technical institutions (including other providers) devoted to undergraduate or graduate work.

(3) Educational seminars, workshops, and continuing education programs in which the employees or trainees participate that enhance the quality of medical care or operating efficiency of the provider and, effective October 1, 2003, do not lead to the ability to practice and begin employment in a nursing or allied health specialty.

(4) Maintenance of a medical library.

(5) Training of a patient or patient's family in the use of medical appliances or other treatments.

(6) Except as provided in paragraph (g) of this section, clinical training and classroom instruction of students enrolled in an educational program that is not operated by the provider. The following are clinical training and classroom instruction costs that are allowable as normal operating costs:

(i) Costs incurred in the clinical training of students, including the clinical training or clerkship of undergraduate medical school students that takes place in a provider.

(ii) Classroom instruction costs incurred by a provider that meet the following criteria:

(A) The provider's support does not constitute a redistribution of nonprovider costs to the provider. The support must be in addition to the costs already being incurred by the nonprovider-operated program. If the nonprovider entity reduces its costs due to receiving provider support, this reduction constitutes a redistribution of costs from an educational institution to a patient care institution and is a nonallowable provider cost.

(B) The provider receives a benefit for the support it furnishes.

(C) The cost of the provider's support is less than the cost the provider would incur were it to operate the program.

(7) Other activities that do not involve the actual operation of an approved educational program.

[66 FR 3374, Jan. 12, 2001, as amended at 66 FR 14342, Mar. 12, 2001; 68 FR 45471, Aug. 1, 2003; 69 FR 49254, Aug. 11, 2004; 71 FR 48142, Aug. 18, 2006; 75 FR 50418, Aug. 16, 2010]