§ 456.135 Continued stay review process.

The UR plan must provide that— (a) Review of continued stay cases is conducted by— (1) The UR committee; (2) A subgroup of the UR committee; or (3) A designee of the UR committee; (b) The committee, subgroup or designee reviews a beneficiary's continued stay on or before the expiration of each assigned continued stay review date; (c) For each continued stay of a beneficiary in the hospital, the committee, subgroup or designee reviews and evaluates the documentation described under § 456.111 against the criteria developed under § 456.132 and applies close professional scrutiny to cases selected under § 456.129(b); (d) If the committee, subgroup, or designee finds that a beneficiary's continued stay in the hospital is needed, the committee assigns a new continued stay review date in accordance with § 456.133; (e) If the committee, subgroup, or designee finds that a continued stay case does not meet the criteria, the committee or a subgroup that includes at least one physician reviews the case to decide the need for continued stay; (f) If the committee or subgroup making the review under paragraph (e) of this section finds that a continued stay is not needed, it notifies the beneficiary's attending physician and gives him an opportunity to present his reviews before it makes a final decision on the need for the continued stay; (g) If the attending physician does not present additional information or clarification of the need for the continued stay, the decision of the committee or subgroup is final; and (h) If the attending physician presents additional information or clarification, at least two physician members of the committee review the need for the continued stay. If they find that the beneficiary no longer needs inpatient hospital services, their decision is final.