As part of his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Joe Biden focused on nursing homes as among the most important issues our nation is currently facing. While his speech did not devote a lot of time to the...more
In roughly the seventh week after a majority of states and the federal government issued emergency declarations or "lock down" executive orders, the true impact of COVID-19 is only beginning to be fully transparent. In long...more
5/4/2020
/ Assisted Living Facilities (ALFs) ,
Depositions ,
Discovery ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Government Investigations ,
Long Term Care Facilities ,
Long-Term Care ,
Medical Malpractice ,
Negligence ,
Parallel Proceedings ,
Privileged Communication ,
Quality Assurance Programs ,
Risk Management ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Self-Incrimination ,
Skilled Nursing Facility ,
Subpoenas ,
Subsequent Remedial Measures ,
Testimony ,
Wrongful Death
Five Star Quality Rating System Changes -
On March 23, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it was temporarily postponing routine facility inspections for nursing homes so it could...more
5/1/2020
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Delays ,
Government Investigations ,
Guidance Update ,
Health Inspections ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Nursing Homes ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Public Safety ,
Relief Measures ,
Star Ratings
Long term care facilities and providers are bearing the brunt of caring for the nation's largest and most vulnerable populations of COVID-19 patients. And they're doing so in the face of considerable uncertainty, insufficient...more
4/27/2020
/ CARES Act ,
Civil Liability ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Executive Orders ,
Governors ,
Health Care Providers ,
Immunity ,
Long Term Care Facilities ,
Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) ,
Relief Measures ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Secretary of HHS ,
State and Local Government
On July 7, 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued revisions to its Civil Money Penalty (CMP) policies and CMP Analytic Tool to increase national consistency amongst Regional Offices (ROs) when...more
In an August 5, 2016, Survey and Certification memorandum to state Survey Agency Directors, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) directs surveyors of nursing facilities on matters relating to the use of social...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has updated its fire safety regulations governing certain Medicare and Medicaid participating health care providers. These include hospitals, critical access hospitals...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently released new guidance and FAQs (OCR Guidance) addressing individuals’ rights to access their protected health information (PHI) under the Health Insurance Portability and...more
Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) should take note of the updates and clarifications set forth in Medlearn Matters article 8997, issued by the CMS on March 13, 2015. Medlearn Matters article 8997 updates the chapters in the...more
Maryland nursing homes must submit their policies and procedures for resident access to and requests for medical records to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Office of Health Care Quality (OHCQ) by...more
CMS recently released rules changing the requirements for Medicare coverage of services furnished incident to a physician’s, NP’s, or PA’s services. Howard Sollins, Donna Senft and Susan Turner explain the effect of the...more
On May 20 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued S&C 14-34-NH devoted to the topic of egg preparation in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Lest one think that this is an odd or random topic, it is relevant...more
Hospices will have until October 1, 2014, to ensure they conform their coding practices to comply with a “clarification” issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in its final FY2014 Hospice Wage Index...more
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final regulation to further implement section 6113 of the federal health reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The March 19, 2013,...more