Medicare Part B could have saved $110 million, OIG asserts
By
Elizabeth Newman
Sep 18, 2014
If the Medicare Part B program had used average Medicare Part D drug dispensing and fee rates, it would have saved the government $110 million in 2011, according to a report from the Department of Health...
Stakeholders need to prepare for the loss of long-term care’s exemption to e-prescribing
By
Cynthia Morton
Sep 15, 2014
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is set to lift long-term care’s exemption from its e-prescribing rule as of Nov. 1. This is bigger news than most realize right now, and there has been...
November 1: Will you be ready?
By
David Lashar
Sep 12, 2014
This year, it is the day after Halloween that might be scary. On November 1, prescribers, pharmacies and facilities in the long-term-care industry must cease the transmission of electronic medication orders...
The end of fee for service
By
Mark Fish
Sep 12, 2014
The seeds that have flowered into the burgeoning of ACOs – groups of providers accepting the responsibility, and risk, for caring for the health of a designated patient population according to defined...
CMS ‘Open Door Forum’ Wednesday
Sep 12, 2014
The next Skilled Nursing Facilities/Long-Term Care Open Door Forum operated by federal regulators will be Wednesday.
Latest therapy-billing showdown could be ominous sign for long-term care providers
By
James M. Berklan
Sep 10, 2014
Don’t let anyone tell you that long-term care operators don’t know how to read between the lines. They might not have known to fear a McKnight’s Monday news item before it broke, but...
CMS should publicly push Congress to reform therapy payment system, long-term care provider association...
By
Tim Mullaney
Sep 09, 2014
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should openly urge Congress to change the way therapy services are reimbursed, the nation’s largest long-term care provider association stated in recent...
The government plans a ‘computer matching program’ to combat improper Medicare, Medicaid...
By
Tim Mullaney
Sep 08, 2014
The government plans to start a “computer matching program” to reduce improper payments from government health programs to providers and other entities, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...
Why the survey system may never be fixed
By
John O'Connor
Sep 05, 2014
Given certain realities about skilled-nursing facility inspections, we should not be wondering why cheating has occurred. Rather, we should be amazed it hasn’t been more rampant.
Federal judge blocks new RAC contracts
By
Tim Mullaney
Sep 04, 2014
Adding to the ongoing controversy around Medicare’s Recovery Audit Contractor program, a judge has ruled that the government cannot award new RAC contracts until disputed payment terms are resolved.