Articles and Blogs

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services Division of Quality Assurance (“DQA”) has issued DQA Memo 12-012, repealing the statewide variance permitting verbal and telephone orders to be authenticated within 48 hours.

The 2% across-the-board cut in reimbursement for Medicare providers, the result of last summer’s “Super Committee” failure, is scheduled to take place January 1, 2013.  The President recently signed legislation requiring a report detailing how the sequestration process will affect Medicare providers.  Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) have already seen significant cuts to reimbursement; an additional…Read More

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background A major study of the board structures, processes and cultures of large, private, nonprofit health systems in the United States has just been completed by Lawrence Prybil, Ph.D., President of Commonwealth Center for Governance Studies, Inc., and his research team, which included Rex Killian, President of Killian & Associates (“K&A”) and Of…Read More

Does this sound like a good and reasonable thing to say to an employee who has brought a complaint to your attention? “Please keep our discussions confidential while our investigation is ongoing.” Well, it may not be so good or reasonable according to the NLRB.  Employers faced with suspected employee misconduct have an obligation – in fairness…Read More

In a recent Public Notice the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) seeks to develop a more robust record in the pending Rural Health Care reform rulemaking, particularly with regard to the proposed Broadband Service Program (“BSP”). Through the FCC’s Universal Service Fund Program (“USFP”), the FCC has funded (on an eighty-five percent (85%) basis) infrastructure projects…Read More

Virtually all employers that have an Employee Handbook also have an acknowledgement of receipt of the Handbook.  It is very common in the acknowledgement for an employer to clearly spell out the fact that the employee is an “Employee-At-Will”.  Now this common employer practice is being challenged by the NLRB. Do Handbook Acknowledgements Violate the Law? In…Read More

CMS Issues FY 2013 Hospital Payment Rule On August 1, CMS issued the final rule for hospitals paid under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (“IPPS”) and Long-Term Acute Care Hospital Prospective Payment System (“LTCH”).  The FY 2013 payment rates to general acute care hospitals will increase by approximately 2.3% and by 1.7% for all LTCHs, which is…Read More

As part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ongoing program to reduce the rate of anti-psychotic use in nursing facilities, the recent changes to the Nursing Home Compare (NHC) website included reports of the usage rates of anti-psychotics in a facility’s score.  However, there is a discrepancy between the methodologies utilized by…Read More

On June 29, 2012, The Joint Commission (“TJC”) released proposed requirements for the certification (“Certification Requirements”) of Primary Care Medical Homes, also known as Patient Centered Medical Homes (“PCMH”).  Although the certification will not be available until early 2013, TJC is seeking comments on the Certification Requirements until August 10, 2012.

Need a quick reference to find specific contacts at Medicare organizations that service your state? The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published an interactive Provider Compliance Group Map. Should you have any questions, please contact: Todd Selby at 317.977.1440 or tselby@hallrender.com; Brian Jent at 317.977.1402 or bjent@hallrender.com; or David Bufford at 502.568.9368 or dbufford@hallrender.com, or your regular Hall…Read More