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Hearing on Johnson Memorial’s bid to end outpatient cardiac and pulmonary rehab focuses on data requests and in‑home alternatives
Summary
Regulators at an Office of Health Strategy hearing on Docket No. 26-32835 asked Johnson Memorial Hospital for CPT/DRG billing codes, cost data for fiscal years 2023–2028, utilization and compliance figures, and information on partnerships for in‑home rehabilitation; the record remains open for four late-filed items.
The Office of Health Strategy held a virtual hearing on Docket No. 26-32835 to consider Johnson Memorial Hospital’s application to terminate outpatient cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation services.
The presiding officer opened the session late and said the proceeding concerns "the proposed termination of outpatient cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation services at Johnson." The panel pressed the applicant for more detailed utilization and billing data needed to evaluate patient impact.
Panel members requested that Johnson provide the CPT/DRG codes used to bill insurers for the affected services and the costs associated with those codes for the fiscal years specified in the record. The panel also asked for reconciliation of visit and encounter counts shown in the exhibits to the two‑year period under review and requested patient compliance figures for two years before and after September 2025.
Dr. Rice, speaking for the applicant’s witnesses, described recent outreach to a Connecticut‑based in‑home rehabilitation provider and said the hospital is open to "help navigate the at home services" through a referral arrangement but does not expect to assume direct contractual management of those services. "I think there's a strong likelihood we will continue to have conversations such that we establish some collaborative memorandum around referring patients," Dr. Rice said.
Counsel and the panel discussed timing for producing the late materials; a participant, Patrick, said "Two weeks [is] reasonable." The panel indicated it could extend the deadline if needed. The four late-filed items the panel recorded are: (1) percentage distribution of patients using the Veo lift service versus transporting themselves (specific to Johnson Memorial); (2) clarification of visit and encounter counts on page five of the issue responses and how they align with the two-year period under review; (3) patient compliance with treatment protocols before and after September 2025; and (4) the CPT/DRG codes and costs associated with each code for all three hospitals for fiscal years 2023–2028.
No members of the public signed up for comment during the hearing. The presiding officer said written public comment may be submitted up to seven days after the hearing through the certificate‑of‑need comment portal and that the record will remain open until it is closed by OS following review of the late files. The presiding officer also said a written order memorializing the four late files would be issued later.
Attorney Anthony, representing the applicant, closed by thanking the panel and staff and "respectfully request[ing] that you approve our application." The panel took no vote during the session; the proceeding remains pending while staff review the late submissions.
