BREAKING: CMS increases oversight of nursing home survey process and expands nursing home visitation...
By
Kimberly Marselas
Danielle Brown
Nov 12, 2021
Nursing homes should allow visitation for residents “at all times,” while state surveyors received steps on how to address a backlog of complaint and recertification surveys under two separate memos...
CMS urges: Start reviewing, planning and tracking staff COVID vaccinations now
By
Danielle Brown
Nov 08, 2021
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is calling on providers to immediately start reviewing the newly proposed healthcare worker COVID-19 vaccination regulation. They also should actually begin...
BREAKING: CMS says all healthcare staff must be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4
By
Danielle Brown
Nov 04, 2021
Long-term care staff must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 under a new healthcare worker vaccination rule released early Thursday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
BREAKING: CMS finalizes therapy pay cuts in 2022 Physician Pay Rule, and extends COVID reporting period
By
Danielle Brown
James M. Berklan
Nov 02, 2021
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized a 15% payment reduction for physical and occupational therapy assistants, and extended temporary telehealth services added to Medicare during the...
CMS employee vaccination mandate could be unveiled today
By
James M. Berklan
Nov 02, 2021
Long-term care operators may learn details of a new federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers as early as today.
Feds update Section GG training series for assessment, coding
By
Danielle Brown
Oct 28, 2021
A federal training series on the assessment and coding of Section GG of the Minimum Data Set has been updated, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Wednesday.
With Phase 3 guidance nearing, skilled nursing providers advised ‘don’t wait’ on infection preventionist,...
By
Kimberly Marselas
Oct 22, 2021
Final, long-awaited guidance related to nursing home Requirements of Participation may soon be here. The rules were fundamentally rewritten and implemented in three phases starting in 2016 but still have...
Providers must take more nuanced approach to visitors, CMS nursing home chief warns
By
Kimberly Marselas
Oct 13, 2021
OXON HILL, MD — Federal regulators are expecting nursing homes to do more to “maximize visitation,” according to a top official at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
CMS unveils new tool for public to compare nursing home vaccination rates
By
Danielle Brown
Sep 21, 2021
Individual nursing homes’ COVID-19 vaccination rates are more subject to public comparisons thanks to a new tool from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The goal is to make previously available...
Nursing homes, feds hide sky-high antipsychotic use with dubious diagnoses: report
By
Alicia Lasek
Sep 20, 2021
At least one-fifth of nursing home residents are taking the drugs, many for schizophrenia, a diagnosis that has skyrocketed in these settings since 2012, a new investigation finds.