Articles and Blogs

On July 31, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a final rule (CMS-1696-F) outlining Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2019 Medicare payment updates and quality program changes for skilled nursing facilities (“SNF”)(“Final Rule”). The Final Rule finalized the value-based purchasing payments that start October 1, 2018, updated several SNF Quality Reporting Program... READ MORE

On July 6, 2018, the Survey and Certification Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) revised its memorandum, “Requirement to Reduce Legionella Risk in Healthcare Facility Water Systems to Prevent Cases and Outbreaks of Legionnaires’ Disease (LD)” (“S&C Memo”), that requires that facilities develop and follow policies and procedures that inhibit... READ MORE

This is another article in a series discussing the complete overhaul of Part 483 to Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Requirements for States and Long-Term Care Facilities (“Final Regulations”) by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”). Hall Render published an overview of Final Regulations components as well as Parts 1,... READ MORE

On July 7, 2017, the Survey and Certification Group at Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a memorandum, “Revision of Civil Money Penalty (“CMP”) Policies and CMP Analytic Tool” (“S&C Memo”) detailing revisions to policies and the analytic tool used to assess and determine CMPs for skilled nursing facilities. The stated goal is... READ MORE

This is another article in a series discussing the complete overhaul of Part 483 to Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Requirements for States and Long-Term Care Facilities (“Final Regulations”) by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”). Hall Render published an overview of Final Regulations components as well as Parts 1,... READ MORE

On June 2, 2017, the Survey and Certification Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a memorandum, “Requirement to Reduce Legionella Risk in Healthcare Facility Water Systems to Prevent Cases and Outbreaks of Legionnaires’ Disease (LD)” (“S&C Memo”), requiring that facilities develop and follow policies and procedures that inhibit microbial growth... READ MORE

This is another article in a series discussing the complete overhaul of Part 483 to Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Requirements for States and Long-Term Care Facilities (“Final Regulations”) by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”). BACKGROUND On September 28, 2016, CMS released a complete overhaul of Part... READ MORE

This time things are really going to change. On January 9, 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a pre-publication copy of the Final Revised Home Health Conditions of Participation (“Final CoPs”). With the release of the Final CoPs, CMS is finalizing, with only a few changes, the significant changes they proposed to... READ MORE