Application period
(3) Application period means the period during which a hospital facility must accept and process an application for financial assistance under its FAP submitted by an individual in order to have made reasonable efforts to determine whether the individual is FAP-eligible under 1.501(r)-6(c). A hospital facility may accept and process an individual's FAP application submitted outside of the application period. With respect to any care provided by a hospital facility to an individual, the application period begins on the date the care is provided and ends on the later of the 240th day after the date that the first post-discharge billing statement for the care is provided or either -