Hospital Stay and End of Benefit Period

10.4.3.1 - Hospital Stay and End of Benefit Period (Rev. 1, 09-11-02) In order to end a benefit period, for at least 60 consecutive days, a beneficiary cannot have been in a hospital which meets the initial requirement in the definitions in Chapter 5, §20.1 through §20.7 of this publication. That is, the beneficiary cannot have been in a facility that is primarily engaged in providing, by or under the supervision of a physician(s), to inpatients: • Diagnostic and therapeutic services for medical diagnosis, treatment, and care of injured, disabled, or sick persons or rehabilitation services for injured, disabled, or sick persons; or • Psychiatric services for the diagnosis and treatment of mentally ill persons. A stay in a hospital outside the United States prolongs a benefit period. It may be assumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that: • A foreign hospital in which a beneficiary spent one or more days meets the requirement of the definition in Chapter 5, §20 of this manual; and • The beneficiary's statement about length and place of stay is correct.