Articles and Blogs

Effective January 1, 2025, Illinois enacted a law that contains several updates to Illinois’s change of ownership (“CHOW”) laws for nursing homes. Changes to Illinois’ CHOW Laws Illinois Public Act 103-0776 (“CHOW Law”) replaces Sections 3-112,  3-113 and 3-114 of the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act (the “Act”). The CHOW Law provides that nursing... READ MORE

On December 31, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a memo titled “Long-Term Care (LTC) Facility Acute Respiratory Illness Reporting Requirements” (“Memo”) to state survey agency directors providing survey guidance related to requirements for long-term care reporting through the National Healthcare Safety Network (“NHSN”) as COVID-19 data reporting requirements ended... READ MORE

On November 21, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued revised guidance under QSO-25-09-ALL, updating Core Appendix Q of the State Operations Manual regarding findings of immediate jeopardy. These updates are intended to enhance transparency, standardize immediate jeopardy determinations and improve communication with providers, suppliers and laboratories. These revisions apply to... READ MORE

The following is our summary of significant nursing home legal and regulatory developments during 2024 of interest to nursing home providers and operators. 1. Staffing Mandate Rule. The “Minimum Staffing Standards for Long Term Care Facilities” final rule was published in the Federal Register on May 10, 2024, establishing a phased implementation of a... READ MORE

NATIONAL 5 PE moves ASC leaders are eyeing Academic health systems benefitting from for-profit selling spree Amazon’s top 10 healthcare moves in ’24 Amazon One Medical faces lawsuit over telehealth patient death Bipartisan bills in Congress would force insurance companies, PBMs to sell pharmacies CMS rolls out 5-year plan to ‘optimize’ care delivery CMS... READ MORE

On December 13, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) continued revisions to its “Guidance for SNF Attachment on Form CMS-855A” (“Guidance”). The Guidance is CMS’s subregulatory advice and FAQs to skilled nursing facilities on the completion and submission of the new Form CMS-855A SNF Disclosures Attachment (“SNF Attachment”) for every skilled... READ MORE

On December 2, 2024, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued a proposed rule (“Proposed Rule”) that amended the regulations relating to exclusion authorities under the authority of OIG. The Proposed Rule would codify changes made by the Medicaid Services Investment and Accountability Act... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) provided additional details and information related to CMS provider enrollment site visits. On November 4, 2024, CMS issued a Quality and Safety Special Alert memo (“QSSAM”), “Clarification of CMS’ Provider Enrollment Visits (all providers and suppliers) and Specific Disclosure Requirements for SNFs and NFs.” CMS provides... READ MORE

On November 20, 2024, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued new Industry Segment-Specific Compliance Program Guidance For Nursing Facilities (“Nursing Facility ICPG”) for nursing home members of the health care compliance community. Motivating factors for issuing the Nursing Facility ICPG included long-standing issues such... READ MORE

On October 7, 2024, the United States Supreme Court denied review of a Second Circuit decision limiting the “willfulness” requirement for liability under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) to knowledge that one’s actions are unlawful. The Second Circuit rejected the argument made by the plaintiff relators in U.S. ex rel. Hart v. McKesson (“Hart“)... READ MORE