Hospital, nursing home information sharing to become ‘routine,’ government agencies say
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 09, 2013
As sharing of electronic health information becomes standard across all care settings, using technology may become a prerequisite for providers to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, according...
CMS revises hospice rules
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 02, 2013
A long-term care provider and its hospice partner will need to draw up a detailed contract, according to a final rule released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and published in the Federal...
CMS to offer more detailed nursing home data, memo states
By
Tim Mullaney
Jul 02, 2013
Users of the Nursing Home Compare website will soon be able to access and download more detailed data, including newly available information about inspections, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services...
Upon further review
By
Kimberly Marselas
Feb 02, 2013
Instead of spending more time doing hands-on patient care, therapists who work with Medicare beneficiaries have been strapped with increased administrative tasks, sometimes leading to delayed services,...
The truth can set you free — or put your long-term care facility out of business
By
John O'Connor
Jan 11, 2013
Journalists generally get all warm and tingly when previously guarded information becomes available. It must be in our DNA. So I should probably be cheering ProPublica’s announcement that the government...
CMS angling to ease providers’ burdens from Medicare Administrative Contractors
By
McKnight's Staff
Jan 10, 2013
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is asking providers to help figure out a way to make demands from Medicare Administrative Contractors less burdensome.
Medicare auditors becoming more active, denying more claims, survey shows
By
McKnight's Staff
Aug 29, 2012
Requests for medical records by Medicare’s fraud-detecting recovery audit contractors (RACs) jumped sharply from the first- to the second-quarter of fiscal year 2012, a new survey reveals.
States ultimately will opt into Medicaid expansion: CMS official
By
McKnight's Staff
Jul 31, 2012
All states will eventually participate in the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion once governors weigh its costs against its benefits, a top Medicaid official predicted Monday.
CMS boosts payments, incentives for dialysis centers
By
McKnight's Staff
Jul 03, 2012
Medicare payments to providers that offer outpatient maintenance dialysis treatments will increase 2.5% in calendar year 2013, regulators said.
Medicare coverage for bariatric surgeries left up to discretion of administrative contractors
Jun 29, 2012
Long-term care operators struggling to meet the needs of obese residents could get some help from Medicare.