The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Office of the Secretary (collectively, HHS) released on May 6, 2024, the agencies' Final Rule governing the implementation of...more
5/13/2024
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Compliance ,
Covered Entities ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Notice Requirements ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Section 1557
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the Secretary (collectively, HHS) released the agencies' Final Rule governing the implementation of Section 1557 of...more
5/13/2024
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Disabilities ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Limited English Proficiency (LEP) ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Section 1557
Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) owned or operated by hospitals (hospital-owned SNFs) have a demonstrated track record of delivering positive outcomes for post-acute care patients. Such success, however, has not been without...more
According to President Biden's recently published column, the Administration's proposed rule, published on September 6, 2023, mandating that nursing homes begin to staff facilities so that registered nurses (RNs) and nurse...more
Effective July 1, 2023, The Joint Commission (TJC) is accepting applications from eligible hospitals and hospital systems for its Health Care Equity (HCE) Certification program. By way of background, TJC generally accredits...more
On April 4, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule for FY 2024 addressing the Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update, Hospice Conditions of Participation Updates, Hospice...more
F557: Respect, Dignity/Right to Have Personal Property Noncompliance at deficiency tag F557 will be cited if the surveyors find that a facility does not treat each resident's possessions with respect, regardless of the...more
F689: Free of Accident Hazards/Supervision/Devices - The Requirements of Participation governing F689 mandate that the facility remove items and resolve situations over which the facility has control to protect residents from...more
F895: Compliance and Ethics Program - F895 is a new tag that was made effective in November 2019 and requires each facility to have a compliance and ethics program that is governed by written standards and policies....more
F940: Training Requirements – General - Noncompliance at new deficiency tag F940, made effective in November 2019, will be cited if a facility fails to develop, implement, and maintain an effective training program for all...more
F880: Infection Prevention and Control - The regulation governing the F880 tag requires that facilities develop and implement ongoing infection control and prevention programs and written policies and procedures for infection...more
On August 18, 2021, President Biden announced that he would use the regulatory authority of the Executive Branch to increase the COVID-19 vaccination rate among nursing home workers. President Biden directed the Department of...more
On April 15, 2021, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its Proposed Rule for the Medicare Program Prospective Payment System (PPS) and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF) and Updates...more
The Department of Health and Human Services has released extensive and significant revised final rules governing the Physician Self-Referral Law (the Stark law) and the Medicare Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) in furtherance of...more
12/21/2020
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Patients ,
Payment Systems ,
Physicians ,
Safe Harbors ,
Self-Referral ,
Stark Law ,
Value-Based Care
The Calendar Year (CY) 2021 final rule updating the Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) includes increases in the national, standardized 30-day period payment and per-visit payment for home health agencies (HHAs)...more
On August 5, 2020, CMS issued its final rule updating FY2021 payment rates used under the prospective payment system (PPS) for Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs). The FY 2021 payment rates will be implemented to reflect the...more
CMS recently released its annual inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) and long term care hospital prospective payment system (LTCH PPS) proposed rule for FY 2021....more
On April 19, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that in addition to requiring that nursing homes report communicable diseases, healthcare-associated infections, and potential outbreaks to...more
5/6/2020
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Health Care Providers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Notification Requirements ,
Nursing Homes ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management