Non-VA Hospital System (NVH)

<p>The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) pays for care provided to VA beneficiaries in non-VA hospitals through its contract hospitalization program as mandated by Congress in the late 1980s. The Non-VA Hospital System (NVH) software captures the patient's Demographics, Provider, Hospital Name and Location, Medicare Provider Number, Diagnoses and Procedures for which the patient received care during his/her inpatient stay. The data is received from either the patient or the medical center providing the care (normally on a UB-92 form). The billing office employee enters the information into Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture and sends information to the Austin Information Technology Center (AITC). The non-VA hospitals are reimbursed at Medicare rates based on the Prospective System (PPS). PPS uses the appropriate Diagnostic Related Groups (DRGs). Each DRG has a different rate-adjusted reimbursement based on the regional and urban/rural designation of the provider non-VA Hospitals. NVH is housed at the AITC and uses software developed by the AITC in conjunction with 3M and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It is a batch system written in Common Business Oriented Language, ALC, and Statistical Analysis Software. Processing occurs daily.</p>