About 9,200 nursing homes — or more than two-thirds of those eligible — shared incentive payments recently for successfully reducing COVID-related infections and deaths between September and October.
No ‘midnight’ regulations?
By
John Hall
Mar 04, 2016
Stakeholders have until roughly mid-June to squeeze in any pressing new regulations during the current administration’s final year. But the Office of Management and Budget said it doesn’t expect...
Penalty process explained
By
Tim Mullaney
May 01, 2014
A long-term care facility that has been slapped with a civil monetary penalty has 10 days to file for an independent informal dispute resolution process, according to a recent manual update from the Centers...
Better anti-fraud efforts are not appeasing lawmakers
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 01, 2014
Long-term care facilities and other Medicare providers increasingly have seen reimbursements influenced by the government’s Fraud Prevention System, an official recently told a Congressional panel.
Case for bundled pay made
By
James M. Berklan
Jun 01, 2013
Large-scale bundling of government reimbursements is needed, say researchers who have studied the topic. Post-acute care was the fastest growing major healthcare spending category for government programs...
CMS proposes 2.3% boost for 2021 Medicare pay rate
By
James M. Berklan
May 01, 2020
Nursing home providers were pleased to learn in mid-April about a proposed 2.3% Medicare pay hike for fiscal 2021.
Right-to-try gains support
By
John Hall
Apr 04, 2016
Congress is considering easing federal laws prohibiting terminally ill patients from trying unapproved experimental drugs as a last-ditch effort to extend or save their lives.
OIG finds ‘observation stay’ problems, calls for reform
By
James M. Berklan
Sep 01, 2013
Long-term care groups are among those hailing a federal study that raises critical questions about hospitals’ apparent over-use of “observation stay” designations for patients.
Lawmakers target SNFs’ big payer for fraud, waste cuts
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 08, 2018
A pair of Congressional subcommittees focused on oversight have banded together to examine ways to reduce Medicaid fraud and waste.
MedPAC calls for payment reforms to come even earlier
By
James M. Berklan
Jul 06, 2017
Federal lawmakers’ advisory panel for Medicare made it official in its report to Congress in June: It recommends implementation of a unified post-acute payment system beginning in 2021 — three...