Articles and Blogs

During yesterday’s Open Door Forum, Jeanette Kranacs, the Director of the Division of Institutional Post-Acute Care for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) commented that CMS will not be issuing instructions to surveyors on evaluating compliance and ethics programs until the regulations have been promulgated.  CMS was required to have final regulations and various tools in place as of... READ MORE

On March 19, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (“CMS”) Final Rule regarding notification and relocation requirements for closing a long-term care (“LTC”) facility was published in the Federal Register. Under the new requirements, 60 days prior to the closure of an LTC facility, the administrator must provide written notice to the... READ MORE

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s (“MedPAC”) recent Report to Congress included a chapter dedicated to skilled nursing facilities (“SNFs”), which MedPAC reports received $31 billion in Medicare reimbursement in 2011.  Recently, SNFs have been under pressure from repeated reimbursement cuts; however, MedPAC’s analysis states that SNF reimbursement is adequate.   READ MORE

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s (“MedPAC”) March 25th Report to Congress outlines inefficiencies they believe exist in the post-acute world and lead to excessive Medicare payments to providers. MedPAC recommendations include Congress evaluate post-acute provider reimbursement and encourage use of the lowest cost mix of services necessary to achieve the best outcomes. READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”), in the March 8, 2013 Memorandum, issued new guidance specifying those tasks that can and cannot be delegated in skilled nursing facilities (“SNFs”) and nursing facilities (“NFs”).  Physicians who improperly assign tasks to non-physician practitioners (“NPPs”) jeopardize the SNFs’ and NFs’ compliance with federal and state... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has unofficially announced it will not be enforcing the upcoming March 23rd compliance program requirements until final regulations are published.  As required under the Affordable Care Act, nursing facilities are required to have a compliance program in place by March 23, 2013.  Despite ambiguity in the actual statute,... READ MORE

In 2003, two fires in long-term care facilities resulted in 31 resident deaths. As a result of these two events, CMS analyzed the fire safety precautions in place in these facilities and determined that resident safety could be greatly improved by requiring that all long-term care facilities have automatic sprinkling systems installed throughout the... READ MORE

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires all skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and nursing facilities (NFs) to have an effective compliance and ethics program in place by March 23, 2013.  Unfortunately, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has failed to publish final regulations covering these programs, as required under PPACA, by... READ MORE

Under the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative, organizations will enter into payment arrangements that include financial and performance accountability for episodes of care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hopes these models may lead to higher quality and more coordinated care at a lower cost to Medicare.   READ MORE

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has just issued a release detailing the establishment of the Healthcare Connect Fund (the “Fund”) to reform and modernize its universal service program for health care.  Recognizing the importance of high-speed data connectedness for quality patient care and burgeoning  health care practices such as telemedicine, the FCC is expanding and reforming its existing Rural Health... READ MORE