As used in subchapters 14 and 15, the following definitions apply:

(1) "Acute care hospital" or "hospital" means a health care facility appropriately licensed by the Department of Public Health and Human Services that provides inpatient and outpatient medical services to injured workers experiencing acute illness or trauma. Acute care hospitals are sometimes referred to as regulated hospitals.

(2) "Ambulatory Payment Classification (APC)" means the reimbursement system adopted by the department for outpatient services.

(3) "Ambulatory surgery center (ASC)" means a health care facility that operates primarily for the purpose of furnishing outpatient surgical services to patients.

(4) "Base rate" means the dollar value which is multiplied by the relative weight of the MS-DRG or APC to determine payment.

(5) "Bundling" means the practice of grouping multiple services, procedures, and supplies into one charge item instead of billing each separately.

(6) "CMS" means the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

(7) "Correct Coding Initiative (CCI)" means the code edits adopted by the department that are used to correct contradictory billing information.

(8) "Current Procedural Terminology (CPT)" codes means codes and descriptors of procedures owned, copyrighted, and published by the American Medical Association.

(9) "Department" means the Montana Department of Labor and Industry.

(10) "Documentation" means written information that is complete, clear, and legible, which describes the service provided and substantiates the charge for the service.

(11) "Durable medical equipment (DME)" means durable medical appliances or devices used in the treatment or management of a condition or complaint, along with associated nondurable materials and supplies required for use in conjunction with the appliance or device. The term does not include an implantable object or device.

(12) "Evidence-based" means use of the best evidence available in making decisions about the care of the individual patient, gained from the scientific method of medical decision-making and includes use of techniques from science, engineering, and statistics, such as randomized controlled trials (RCTs), meta-analysis of medical literature, integration of individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research, and a risk-benefit analysis of treatment (including lack of treatment).

(13) "Facility" or "health care facility" has the meaning provided under 50-5-101, MCA, and the administrative rules implementing that definition, and is limited to only those facilities licensed or certified by the Department of Public Health and Human Services.

(14) "Functional status" means written information that is complete, clear, and legible, that identifies objective findings indicating the claimant's physical capabilities and provides information about the change in the status as a result of treatment.

(15) "Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS)" means the identification system for health care matters developed by the federal government, and includes level one codes, known as CPT codes, and level two codes that were developed to use for supplies, procedures, or services that do not have a CPT code. These codes also include successor codes for CPT and HCPCS established by the American Medical Association and CMS.

(16) "Implantable" means a system of objects or devices that is made either to replace and act as a missing biological structure, to repair or support a biological structure, or to manage chronic disease processes and that is surgically implanted, embedded, inserted, or otherwise applied. The term also includes any related equipment necessary to install, operate, program, and recharge the implantable.

(17) "Improvement status" means written information that is complete, clear, and legible, which identifies objective medical findings of the claimant's medical status with respect to the treatment plan.

(18) "Inpatient services" means services rendered to a person who has been admitted to a hospital for bed occupancy for purposes of receiving inpatient hospital services. Generally, a patient is considered an inpatient if formally admitted as inpatient with the expectation that the patient will remain at least overnight and occupy a bed even though it later develops that the patient can be discharged or transferred to another hospital and not actually use the hospital bed overnight. The physician or other practitioner responsible for a patient's care at the hospital is also responsible for deciding whether the patient should be admitted as an inpatient.

(19) "Insurer" has the same meaning as provided by 39-71-116, MCA.

(20) "Interested party" means:

(a) the "physician" or "provider" as defined by this rule;

(b) the "claimant" or "injured worker"; or

(c) the representative of the injured worker.

(21) "Maintenance care" has the same meaning as provided by 39 -71-116, MCA.

(22) "Medical director" means a person who is an employee of, or contractor to, the department, and who is responsible for the independent medical review of requests for treatment(s) or procedure(s), when those requests are denied, and whose responsibility will also include other areas to be determined by the department. A person serving as a medical director must be a physician licensed by the state of Montana under Title 37, chapter 3, MCA.

(23) "Medical stability", "maximum medical improvement", "maximum healing", or "maximum medical healing" has the same meaning as provided by 39-71-116, MCA.

(24) "Medicare-Severity Diagnosis Related Group (MS-DRG or DRG)" means the inpatient diagnosis classifications of circumstances where patients demonstrate similar resource consumption, length of stay patterns, and medical severity status that are adopted by the department and are used for billing purposes.

(25) "Nonfacility" means any place not included in this rule's definition of "facility".

(26) "Objective medical findings" means medical evidence that is substantiated by clinical findings. Clinical findings include, but are not limited to, range of motion, atrophy, muscle strength, muscle spasm, and diagnostic evidence. Complaints of pain in the absence of clinical findings are not considered objective medical findings.

(27) "Outpatient" means a patient who is not admitted for inpatient or residential care.

(28) "Palliative care" has the same meaning as provided by 39-71-116, MCA.

(29) "Physician" means those persons identified by 33-22-111, MCA, practicing within the scope of the providers' license.

(30) "Primary medical services" has the same meaning as provided by 39-71-116, MCA.

(31) "Prior authorization" means:

(a) with respect to services provided on or before June 30, 2011, that for those matters identified by ARM 24.29.1517 the provider receives (either verbally or in writing) authorization from the insurer to perform a specific procedure or series of related procedures, prior to performing that procedure; and

(b) with respect to services provided on or after July 1, 2011, the interested party receives prior authorization (either verbally or in writing) from the insurer to perform treatment for those cases identified by ARM 24.29.1593.

(32) "Provider" means any health care provider, unless the context in another rule clearly indicates otherwise. "Provider" does not include pharmacists nor does it include a supplier of medical equipment who is not a health care provider.

(33) "Ratio of cost to charges (RCC)" means the computed ratio using charges and the hospital's Medicare cost report.

(34) "Rebuttable presumption" means that the Montana Guidelines, as adopted in ARM 24.29.1591, are presumed to be compensable medical treatment for an injured worker. The presumption can be rebutted by a preponderance of credible medical evidenced-based material and medical reasons to justify that the medical treatment(s) or procedure(s) that require prior authorization are reasonable and necessary care for the injured worker.

(35) "Relative Value Unit" or "RVU" represents a unit of measure for medical services, procedures, or supplies. RVU is used in the fee schedule formulas to calculate reimbursement fees and is expressed in numeric units. Those services that have greater costs or value have higher RVUs than those services with lower costs or value.

(36) "Resource-Based Relative Value Scale" or "RBRVS" means the publication titled "Essential RBRVS", published by Ingenix, Inc.

(37) "Secondary medical services" has the same meaning as provided by 39-71-116, MCA.

(38) "Service or services" means treatment including procedures and supplies provided in a facility or nonfacility that is billable under these rules.

(39) "Status indicator (SI)" codes mean CPT codes treated in the same fashion or category, such as packaged services, and apply to outpatient services only.

(40) "Treating physician" means:

(a) with respect to claims arising before July 1, 1993, the meaning provided by ARM 24.29.1511;

(b) with respect to claims arising on or after July 1, 1993, the meaning provided by 39-71-116, MCA.

(41) "Treatment plan" means a written outline of how the provider intends to treat a specific condition or complaint.

(a) With respect to services provided on or before June 30, 2011, the treatment plan must include a diagnosis of the condition, the specific type(s) of treatment, procedure, or modalities that will be employed, a timetable for the implementation and duration of the treatment, and the goal(s) or expected outcome of the treatment. Treatment, as used in this definition, may consist of diagnostic procedures that are reasonably necessary to refine or confirm a diagnosis. The treating physician may indicate that treatment is to be performed by a provider in a different field or specialty, and defer to the professional judgment of that provider in the selection of the most appropriate method of treatment; however, the treating physician must identify the scope of the referral in the treatment plan and provide guidance to the provider concerning the nature of the injury or occupational disease.

(b) With respect to services provided on or after July 1, 2011, a treatment plan must be made in accordance with the Montana Guidelines adopted in ARM 24.29.1591 and made in accordance with any insurer authorized treatments or procedures.