Articles and Blogs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has rated nursing facilities since 2009 for three areas of performance: Health Inspections, Staffing, and Quality Measures. From 2009 through 2011, more than 40% saw an improvement in overall rating, while only around 27% had a most recent rating that was lower than the first. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a Survey and Certification Letter as a reminder of current regulations (42 C.F.R. 483.10(j)) delineating the rights of long term care (“LTC”) residents to receive family and non-family visitors.  The current guidelines grant broad discretion to the residents with respect to visitation.  Facilities must provide 24-hour visitation…Read More

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) recently released the final rule for fiscal year (“FY”) 2014 skilled nursing facility (“SNF”) prospective payment system (“PPS”) rates.  These rates will take effect October 1, the start of FY 2014.  

Hall Render Continues to Advance Stark Law Initiative The Hall Render Stark Law Correction Initiative (“SLCI”) continued to advance its efforts to obtain a technical correction amendment to the physician self-referral law this week when the Office of Legislative Counsel produced a draft of the proposed legislation. The SLCI, a coalition of health systems from…Read More

Executive Summary In an interesting Medicare Integrity Program case examining conflicting provisions 42 U.S.C. § 1395ddd(f)(3)  and 42 U.S.C. § 1395kk(a) (the “Medicare Statute”), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (the “Court”) upheld a decision of a federal district court, concluding that the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”)…Read More

In Mooney v. Anonymous, the Indiana Court of Appeals re-evaluated a trial court’s authority and jurisdiction to dismiss medical malpractice claims based upon a plaintiff’s failure to comply with the Medical Malpractice Act and to diligently prosecute the claim. Although the Court of Appeals’ decision was based upon procedural developments and global delays unique to…Read More

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) recently issued the final rule for hospice agreements with long-term care (“LTC”) providers.  The rule requires LTC facilities to have written agreements specifying the respective roles and responsibilities for the hospice and LTC provider for any arrangements for the provision of hospice care within the LTC facility.  

It doesn’t happen often but when it does it can be a very big deal – personally.  Because of how the term “employer” is broadly defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) (which deals with wages, hours and overtime), it has long been possible for a manager to be considered an “employer” and therefore…Read More

Doc Fix Legislation Advances out of Subcommittee On July 23, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee passed bipartisan legislation (H.R. 2810) calling for a new system for Medicare physician payments.  The measure was approved without any significant changes made to the policies set forth in the original framework issued last week.  It now heads for a…Read More

In 2007, the majority of physicians responding to an American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (“ASDS”) survey reported that the number of patients they were treating for complications caused by non-physicians was increasing.  These complications frequently involved burns caused by the improper use of lasers, scarring caused by chemical peels, hyperpigmentation caused by laser hair removal…Read More