A. Availability of reserve days
The reserve days are available for care in participating hospitals and for emergency services in nonparticipating hospitals.
A beneficiary's reserve days are not available to the extent that they are subject to the 150 day psychiatric hospital reduction, i.e., when they have been in a psychiatric hospital during the 150 day period immediately preceding their first day of entitlement to Part A benefits and is still in a psychiatric hospital on the first day of entitlement (see HI 00601.090 ).
The reserve days are also available to a beneficiary who uses up 190 days of inpatient psychiatric hospital care (see HI 00601.110 ) and remains in or reenters a psychiatric hospital.
A beneficiary will be deemed to have elected not to use their lifetime reserve to cover inpatient days for which the hospital's daily charge is equal to or less than the lifetime reserve days coinsurance amount (see HI 00601.560 ). Such days are treated as noncovered days.