[11/29/12]
Posted on November 29, 2012 in Long-Term Care, Home Health & Hospice
Written by: Bufford, David W.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will soon be distributing a free toolkit to nursing facilities, CMS Regional Offices, and State Survey Agencies. Hand in Hand is a high quality training series for nursing homes that emphasizes person-centered care for persons with dementia, as well as the prevention of abuse. Section 6121 of... READ MORE
Tags: bufford, cms, hand in hand, jent, Litigation and Risk Management, long term care, Medicaid/Medicare Enrollment and Regulatory Compliance, nf, nursing facility, selby, snf
[10/05/12]
Posted on October 5, 2012 in Long-Term Care, Home Health & Hospice
Written by: Bufford, David W.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has published their annual Work Plan for 2013. The Work Plan continues to identify compliance risk areas that subject Medicare and Medicaid providers to audit and enforcement initiatives. The Work Plan specifically targets skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), hospices, and home health agencies (HHAs). For all types of... READ MORE
Tags: adverse event, agency, aide, bufford, care, certification, citations, convictions, criminal, f-2-f, f2f, face, general, hha, Home Health, home heatlh, Hospice, inpatient, jent, long term care, MAC, marketing, Medicaid/Medicare Enrollment and Regulatory Compliance, nf, nursing facility, nursing home, oig, oversight, pps, quality, records, selby, snf, special focus, SSF, state, survey, to, work plan
[10/03/12]
Posted on October 3, 2012 in Long-Term Care, Home Health & Hospice
Written by: Selby, Todd J.
On September 27, 2012 CMS issued revised feeding tube interpretive guidelines to the State Operations Manual (“SOM”). While the actual federal regulation did not change, the SOM changes the interpretive guidelines, which can be found in Appendix PP of the SOM. READ MORE
Tags: appendix PP, bufford, cms, feeding tube, long term care, nf, nursing home, selby, snf, som, state operations manual, survey agency
[08/09/12]
Posted on August 9, 2012 in Long-Term Care, Home Health & Hospice
Written by: Bufford, David W.
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... READ MORE
Tags: 2%, across the board, bufford, cms, cuts, jent, long term care, Medicaid/Medicare Enrollment and Regulatory Compliance, Medicare, payment, president, reimbursement, selby, sequestration, snf
[08/02/12]
Posted on August 2, 2012 in Long-Term Care, Home Health & Hospice
Written by: Bufford, David W.
The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (AQNHC) released the results of a study conducted concerning the future of skilled nursing facility (SNF) reimbursement. While SNF providers have recently seen their reimbursement rates improve, the study report projects SNF providers are facing $65 billion in reimbursement cuts over the next ten years. The reimbursement... READ MORE
Tags: ACA, bufford, cms, cuts, jent, Litigation and Risk Management, long term care, medicaid, Medicaid/Medicare Enrollment and Regulatory Compliance, Medicare, reimbursement, selby, sequestration, snf, staffing
[07/09/12]
Posted on July 9, 2012 in Health Information Technology
Published by: Hall Render
Since 2005, a group of associations known as the Long Term and Post Acute Care (LTPAC) Health Information Technology Collaborative (the Collaborative) have hosted the annual LTPAC Health IT Summit to discuss and advance health IT issues for long LTPAC providers. Following the Summit, the Collaborative publishes a Road Map that identifies the progress... READ MORE
Tags: aanac, accountable care, ahca, ahima, amda, batt, bufford, bundled payment, care coordination, cast, cms, crm, ehr, employee, facility, health it, healthcare, hms, improvement, IT, leadingage, long term care, ltc, ltpac, nasl, ncal, nf, nursing home, oig, pace, process, provider, quality, rehospitalization, road map, skill, snf, summit, technology, training
[07/09/12]
Posted on July 9, 2012 in Long-Term Care, Home Health & Hospice
Written by: Bufford, David W.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report this morning detailing issues found in the use of antipsychotics in nursing facilities. Utilizing a sample of records from January through June of 2007, the OIG found over 99% of records reviewed failed to meet one or more Federal requirements. READ MORE
Tags: abuse, antipsychotic, assessment, bufford, care, care plan, cms, federal, jent, long term care, medicaid, Medicare, nf, noncompliance, nursing home, oig, reduce, regulation, reimbursement, report, resident, selby, skilled nursing facility, snf
[07/06/12]
Posted on July 6, 2012 in Long-Term Care, Home Health & Hospice
Written by: Bufford, David W.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) just released the 2012 Nursing Home Action Plan; a guide for CMS’ efforts to continue to improve nursing home safety and quality. The plan features 5 actionable strategies, including: enhance consumer engagement; strengthen survey processes, standards, and enforcement; promote quality improvement; create strategic approaches through partnerships; and... READ MORE
Tags: 2012 lsc, ACA, action plan, antipsychotic, assessment, bufford, cmp, cms, congress, consumer, feeding tube, hha, Home Health, idr, improvement, jent, long term care, lsc, medicaid, Medicare, nf, nursing home, nursing home compare, oig, qapi, quality, regulation, selby, skilled nursing facility, snf, survey, tags
[07/06/12]
Posted on July 6, 2012 in Long-Term Care, Home Health & Hospice
Written by: Bufford, David W.
In an on-going push to regulate the use of antipsychotic medications in nursing facilities, another piece of legislation has failed to pass Congress. The Senate did not pass a proposed regulation that would have standardized protocols for obtaining informed consent before administering antipsychotics for off-label use. READ MORE
Tags: Anti-Kickback, antipsychotic, bufford, cms, congress, drug, facility, Home Health, Hospice, initiative, jent, Litigation and Risk Management, long term care, Medicaid/Medicare Enrollment and Regulatory Compliance, nursing, nursing home compare, psychotice, regulation, selby, senate, skilled, snf
[07/03/12]
Posted on July 3, 2012 in Long-Term Care, Home Health & Hospice
Written by: Bufford, David W.
The Nursing Home Compare website, originally launched in 1998, is set to launch with a redesign July 19th. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) claims the redesign adopts industry design and usability best practices while also incorporating a considerable amount of new information to increase transparency and usability for consumers. READ MORE
Tags: 2567, antipsychotic, bufford, cms, disclosure, drugs, facility, jent, long term care, mds 3.0, nhc, nursing home, nursing home compare, ownership, physical therapy, selby, snf, website
