Beyond Hospice: Home Health Agencies Plagued by UPICs and SMRCs
In spring 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the Medicaid access rule, which includes a provision that requires that 80% of Medicaid payments for most Medicaid-funded home health aide,...more
One-fifth of the U.S. workforce is comprised of family caregivers, whose unpaid contributions include nearly 24 hours of care per week, on average, and amount to nearly $600 billion. As populations age across the globe and in...more
In May 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) proposed a series of rule changes intended to help promote the availability of home and community-based services (“HCBS”) for Medicaid beneficiaries. Chief...more
The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized important changes to the Medicare enrollment regulations applicable to hospices and home health agencies (HHAs), including increasing the level of screening that...more
In recent years, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has increased enforcement activities in the home healthcare industry. On Tuesday, DOL announced recovery of over $500,000 from an Alabama agency found to have...more
A major change in Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) wage and hour jurisprudence has taken place, with BakerHostetler at the helm. In Clark, et al. v. A&L Home Care & Training Center, the Southern District of Ohio conditionally...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”), through its Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”), has been intensifying its pursuit of Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) violations by residential care facilities, nursing facilities, home...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on April 27, 2023, that it will publicly release all ownership information of home health and hospice agencies. This move is aimed at increasing transparency and...more
Governor Hochul signed the New York State Budget for fiscal year 2023-2024 into law on May 3, 2023, bringing with it sweeping changes to the way home health care agencies and home care staffing agencies in the state will...more
On April 27, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking entitled Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services (Proposed Rule) which would, among other things, establish...more
The New York Office of the Attorney General (OAG) recently announced two agreements with White Glove Community Care, Inc. (White Glove). One agreement reached with OAG’s Labor Bureau involved unpaid wages to White Glove’s...more
Issues related to whether individuals are independent contractors or employees receive significant attention by employers and governmental entities because of the critical impact of misclassification. The U.S. Department of...more
On August 2, 2022, the New York State Department of Health (the “Department”) issued revised guidance regarding daily health screenings and related policies for home care staff. Specifically, the new guidance reduces the...more
In this episode, we continue our discussion of home health enforcement trends, focusing on other audits currently troubling agencies. These include audits from Unified Program Integrity Contractors (UPIC), Supplemental...more
Eleventh-Hour Trump Administration FLSA Classification Rule Revived- Just when residential healthcare employers thought it was safe to get back into the classification waters, a late-stage Trump administration rule,...more
As previously addressed on this blog, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont recently signed into law the state’s fiscal year 2023 budget (HB5506) (Act). Among other things, the Act prohibits homemaker-companion or home health...more
A glaring gap in the U.S. health care system - the giving of care at home - is burgeoning into a costly chasm. Pretty much everybody involved needs to pay close attention and finally act to deal with the nation’s failure to...more
On November 23, 2021, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced an education, outreach and enforcement initiative to ensure employers pay professional caregivers minimum wage and overtime in accordance with...more
The Biden Administration’s recent “Path Out of the Pandemic” expands the COVID-19 vaccine mandate covering nursing home workers and will soon reach 17 million healthcare workers at Medicare and Medicaid-certified facilities....more
In response to an industry long in crisis before the pandemic, President Biden’s American Jobs Plan allocates substantial investment in the caregiving industry. The Plan aims to allocate $400 billion toward expanding access...more
Governor Northam recently signed into law a half dozen new employment laws affecting employers in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Among these new laws are two that, beginning on July 1, 2021, will provide new protections for...more
The arrival of spring typically equates to the ‘spring-cleaning’ of your home. In this article, I challenge family caregivers and those of you wishing to age in place to polish your knowledge and spruce up your care-planning...more
On November 25, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) gave hospitals facing another surge in COVID-19 patients more flexibility to care for Medicare patients outside of the walls of their hospitals. In...more
When New York adopted a wage parity law setting minimum wage and benefit levels for home care workers, innovative home health care agency companies created a captive plan structure to meet the benefits requirements. Although...more
On April 3, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the 2020-2021 state budget bills, part of which amended the New York’s Home Health Care Worker Wage Parity Law (“Wage Parity Law”). One of the key amendments made to...more