In a transmittal issued on April 5, 2013, CMS provided guidance on survey activities that will be affected by the sequestration cuts. The transmittal provides guidance on several areas that will have an immediate and potentially negative effect on nursing homes and post-acute care providers. These changes will affect the survey process as conducted by the state survey agencies.
Posts Tagged ‘long term care’
Sequestration Cuts Impact Nursing Homes and Post-Acute Care Providers
Authored By: Todd J. Selby
Final Rule Published Regarding Nursing Facility Closure Requirements
Authored By: Todd J. Selby
On March 19, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (“CMS”) Final Rule regarding notification and relocation requirements for closing a long-term care (“LTC”) facility was published in the Federal Register.
Under the new requirements, 60 days prior to the closure of an LTC facility, the administrator must provide written notice to the following: (more…)
CMS Proposes Extension on Automatic Sprinkler Requirements
Authored By: Todd J. Selby
In 2003, two fires in long-term care facilities resulted in 31 resident deaths. As a result of these two events, CMS analyzed the fire safety precautions in place in these facilities and determined that resident safety could be greatly improved by requiring that all long-term care facilities have automatic sprinkling systems installed throughout the buildings. Consequently, on August 13, 2008, CMS published a final rule that required all buildings with long-term care facilities must have automatic sprinkler systems installed throughout the facilities no later than August 13, 2013.
CMS Issues Advance Copy of Long-Term Care Survey Protocol
Authored By: Todd J. Selby
On September 27, 2012, CMS issued an advance copy of the State Operations Manual (“SOM”) revisions to Appendix P of the SOM, which addresses Long-Term Care Facility survey protocol. The SOM guidance also makes changes to various survey forms resulting from the new quality measures reports. (more…)
New Vermont laws on abuse, neglect and exploitation of vulnerable adults residing in long term care facilities
Authored By: Sean J. Fahey
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin recently signed Vermont House Bill 413 into law. The new law adds a new section to Vermont’s laws on abuse, neglect and exploitation of vulnerable adults residing in long term care facilities. The new section allows Vermont’s Attorney General the right to pursue a civil action against individuals, nursing homes and other long term care facilities, who, with reckless disregard or with knowledge violate Vermont’s laws abuse, neglect and exploitation of vulnerable adults. The new law provides that merely having a report filed with the Vermont Attorney General of abuse, neglect, exploitation or suspicion of those acts, is not be sufficient to demonstrate that a person or caregiver acted with reckless disregarded. Fines start at $5,000 if no bodily injury results and can rise to $50,000 if death occurs. The new law is effective July 1, 2012.
Vermont’s new law can be found here.
Should you have any questions, please contact:
Todd Selby at 317.977.1440 or tselby@hallrender.com;
Brian Jent at 317.977.1402 or bjent@hallrender.com;
David Bufford at 502.568.9368 or dbufford@hallrender.com; or
Sean Fahey at 317.977.1472 or sfahey@hallrender.com,
or your regular Hall Render attorney.
Filial Responsibility Law – Another Tool for Nursing Homes to Get Paid – Son Liable for Mother’s $92,943 Nursing Home Bill Under Pennsylvania Law
Authored By: Sean J. Fahey
Recently, a Pennsylvania appeals court found a son liable for his mother’s $92,943 unpaid nursing home bill under Pennsylvania’s filial responsibility law. (more…)
Do Men Have a More Difficult Time Finding LTC?
Authored By: David W. Bufford
The New York Times (NYT) had an interesting article in their The New Old Age segment that described the issues men have in finding appropriate long-term care facilities. The article highlighted an intuitive, yet often overlooked issue concerning the number of rooms a facility has versus the number of beds. Many facilities have two beds in most rooms; these semi-private rooms have restrictions that require the residents to be the same sex. As most residents in long-term care are female, finding another female to share a semi-private room is generally not difficult. However, placing a male in semi-private room requires another male resident to fill the room.
This demonstrates some of the issues long-term care providers must resolve. While the facility is obviously limited in having males and females share semi-private rooms, having an odd number of male residents could result in empty beds, yet the inability to fill them. With costs increasing, and governmental reimbursement cuts, facilities have to operate at a high census to remain solvent. Quality of care and non-discriminatory admissions policies clearly should take precedence over profitabilty, but this does highlight both a current and future issue as more people require long-term care.
Should you have any questions, please contact:
Todd Selby at 317.977.1440 or tselby@hallrender.com;
Brian Jent at 317.977.1402 or bjent@hallrender.com; or
David Bufford at 502.568.9368 or dbufford@hallrender.com,
or your regular Hall Render attorney.
WSJ Cites Research Aimed at Restoring Antibiotic Sensitivity to Superbugs
Authored By: David W. Bufford
So-called “superbugs”, those bacteria strains that have developed resistance to antibiotics, have long generated high levels of concern for hospitals and long-term care facilities. These infections are difficult to treat, and often generate serious complications for individuals with already impaired immune systems. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) today published a note detailing efforts by researchers to restore the antibiotic sensitivity of some of these superbugs. The researchers utilize a process called lysogenization, whereby resistant bacteria is targeted with bacteriophages, viruses that can infect bacteria.
Initial results showed certain strains of bacteria regained sensitivity to antibiotic treatment after the lysogenization process. However, researchers point out this technique has not yet been attempted on the most pervasive of the health care superbugs, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Should you have any questions, please contact:
Todd Selby at 317.977.1440 or tselby@hallrender.com;
Brian Jent at 317.977.1402 or bjent@hallrender.com; or
David Bufford at 502.568.9368 or dbufford@hallrender.com,
or your regular Hall Render attorney.
CMS Revisits Smoking Safety in Long Term Care Facilities
Authored By: David W. Bufford
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) just released a Survey & Certification Letter (S&C: 12-04-NH) to address a recent report of a nursing facility resident death due to a smoking accident. A resident who was deemed appropriate to smoke unsupervised, but failing to wear a smoking apron, died as the result of injuries she sustained while smoking unsupervised outside a facility. CMS published the Letter to review the current regulations and Guidance to Surveyors at 42 CFR 483.25(h), and tag F323, Accidents and Supervision.
CMS restated that survey agencies must do all they can to remind and encourage nursing homes with residents who smoke to take reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of residents to the maximum extent possible. The above regulation Guidance describes appropriate precautions such as smoking only in designated areas, supervising residents whose assessment and plans of care indicate a need for supervised smoking, and limiting the accessibility of matches and lighters by residents who need supervision when smoking. (more…)
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- Home Health (44)
- Hospice (40)
- Litigation and Risk Management (38)
- Long-Term Care (140)
- Medicaid/Medicare enrollment and regulatory compliance (70)