May 23, 2013
Effective July 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will begin rejecting claims received for Medicare Part B patients that do not include the new requirement of G-coding. That really means providers need to be ready by June 1.
May 21, 2013
The federal government's Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan will reduce its payments to skilled nursing facilities by 50% as of June 15, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The PCIP program received a budget of $5 billion in ACA funding, and CMS fears it will run out of money prior to 2014 given the current rate of pay-outs.
The second round of the Health Care Innovation Awards is now underway, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Wednesday. CMS will distribute up to $1 billion to fund projects that aim to improve care while cutting costs for the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has updated the online Medicare Provider Reimbursement Manual, modifying instructions related to the 2% reimbursement reductions resulting from sequestration.
May 16, 2013
Marilyn Tavenner has become the first confirmed head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in seven years. Advocates in the long-term care sector welcomed the news.
The Minimum Data Set manual will be revised to reflect a new correction policy, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently announced.
May 06, 2013
Negative Pressure Wound Therapy ("NPWT") is one of the oldest forms of medicinal therapy used to heal the human body. Over the past decade there has been a significant increase in the use of this therapy.
May 02, 2013
Total Medicare reimbursements to skilled nursing facilities would increase by $500 million in 2014 under the new payment rate proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The agency is also proposing a new Minimum Data Set item related to therapy.
Potential Medicare cuts called for by the Affordable Care Act will not occur, a chief government actuary has announced. Long-term care organizations said the news comes as a relief for providers who have weathered a series of recent payment reductions.
Hospices will reap a 1.1% increase in Medicare payments in fiscal year 2014, according to a proposed rule issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
May 01, 2013
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will change some nursing home survey procedures in response to budget cuts from sequestration, according to memos released April 9. The CMS Survey & Certification budget has been reduced 5% from 2012, the agency announced.
May 01, 2013
Bully for provider groups pulling out the stops to draw attention to the ludicrous mishandling of "observation stay" designations by many hospitals. One prong of the plan is to have providers supply anecdotes about individuals hurt financially and emotionally by the practice.
April 30, 2013
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has proposed changing the way hospital readmission penalties are calculated as part of its 2014 Medicare rate update. Potential readmissions penalties for long-term care providers — such as those recently floated by the White House — would likely be based on the established CMS formula for hospitals.
April 29, 2013
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could take a variety of steps to make audits less burdensome, healthcare providers stated in white papers submitted to members of the Senate Finance Committee. The committee released a report Thursday, summarizing stakeholders' input and recommendations for improving the audit process.
April 26, 2013
The Department of Health and Human Services is trying to encourage Medicare fraud whistleblowers by substantially increasing their potential reward. The current maximum award of $1,000 would go up to $9.9 million per whistleblower if a recently proposed rule takes effect.
April 24, 2013
Regional authorities will decide whether to conduct full surveys of deemed long-term care providers that are cited for Immediate Jeopardy, according to recently revised guidelines from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will be hosting a national conference call on Tuesday for providers interested in applying to take part in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. The 90-minute session starts at 1:30 p.m. Eastern. The Shared Savings Program is designed to help provides take part in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). On Tuesday, experts will offer tips on completing a successful MSS Program application, and more info on ACOs.
April 19, 2013
Long-term care providers and states should agree on what a "direct access employee" is and whether that person has a criminal conviction that should keep him or her from working in a nursing home, according to a a recently released report from the Long-Term Care Criminal Convictions Work Group.
April 10, 2013
Nursing home operators can now download a brief clarifying which tasks physicians may delegate to other practitioners caring for Medicare beneficiaries in skilled nursing facilities,
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will change some nursing home survey procedures in response to budget cuts from sequestration, according to memos released Tuesday. The CMS Survey & Certification budget has been reduced 5% from 2012, the agency announced.
Providers may be reimbursed for Medicare beneficiaries' bad debts even after sending them to a collection agency, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled.
April 04, 2013
CMS recently made changes to surveyor guidance on feeding tubes. Nursing homes must look at their policies, documentation and education practices in order to assess whether a feeding tube is appropriate.
April 04, 2013
Nursing home operators can now download a brief clarifying which tasks physicians may delegate to other practitioners caring for Medicare beneficiaries in skilled nursing facilities, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced in a document released Wednesday.
The Senate Finance Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Marilyn Tavenner, currently the acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, on Tuesday, April 9.
April 03, 2013
If you're a gambling person, it looks like the odds just got a whole lot better for Marilyn Tavenner becoming the next administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. That's the person who manages the main funding streams of long-term care in the United States.
April 02, 2013
The 2% reduction in Medicare payments known as sequestration began Monday. Providers should begin to see the impact by mid-April. The reductions will affect claims with dates of service or discharge on or after April 1, 2013.
April 01, 2013
A federal agency is again offering to put its money where its mouth is when it comes to employee background checks for long-term care providers. All direct-care employees could potentially be affected.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the state of Illinois are teaming up in a dual eligible payment demonstration.
An Alabama nursing home that did not properly handle a resident with pressure sores on her feet is on the hook for Immediate Jeopardy fines of nearly $135,000, a federal appeals court recently affirmed.
March 22, 2013
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is still working on the regulations for ethics and compliance programs that nursing homes were supposed to have implemented this month, CMS administrators admitted in an Open Door Forum call Thursday.
