The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has just issued a release detailing the establishment of the Healthcare Connect Fund (the “Fund”) to reform and modernize its universal service program for health care. Recognizing the importance of high-speed data connectedness for quality patient care and burgeoning health care practices such as telemedicine, the FCC is expanding and reforming its existing Rural Health Care program. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘selby’
FCC to Promote Expansion of High-Bandwidth Capacity to SNFs
Authored By: David W. Bufford
CMS Distributes Free “Hand in Hand” Toolkit to Nursing Facilities
Authored By: David W. Bufford
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will soon be distributing a free toolkit to nursing facilities, CMS Regional Offices, and State Survey Agencies. Hand in Hand is a high quality training series for nursing homes that emphasizes person-centered care for persons with dementia, as well as the prevention of abuse. Section 6121 of the Affordable Care Act requires CMS to ensure that nurse aides receive regular training on caring for residents with dementia and on preventing abuse. Hand in Hand addresses the annual requirement for nurse aide training on these important topics.
More information is available on the Hand in Hand website.
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 Extends “Extraordinary Circumstances” Hospice Exemption
Authored By: David W. Bufford
While hospices are required to ensure that substantially all core hospice services, including nursing services, are performed by hospice employees, hospices have been permitted to utilize contracted staff members to supplement hospice employees during periods of peak patient loads or extraordinary circumstances.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) agrees the nation-wide shortage of hospice nurses has proven to be an “extraordinary circumstance” for many hospices, and has adopted a policy to permit the exemption for individual hospices that can demonstrate the impact of the shortage on their ability to provide care. Originally set to expire September 30, 2012, the ongoing nursing shortage has caused this policy to extend to September 30, 2014. (more…)
OIG Publishes Findings of Nurse Aide Criminal History Investigation
Authored By: David W. Bufford
As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) was mandated to submit a report to Congress evaluating the Nationwide Program for National and State Background Checks on Direct Patient Access Employees of Long Term Care Facilities and Providers (commonly referred to as the “Background Check Program”, herein the “Program”). The OIG recently published the findings of the first year of this investigation, establishing a baseline figure for future years. (more…)
OIG Publishes 2013 Work Plan
Authored By: David W. Bufford
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has published their annual Work Plan for 2013. The Work Plan continues to identify compliance risk areas that subject Medicare and Medicaid providers to audit and enforcement initiatives. The Work Plan specifically targets skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), hospices, and home health agencies (HHAs). For all types of providers, the main goal of this Work Plan is to focus on measuring and quantifying the cost and quality of care. A brief overview of the OIG’s target areas for each provider type is listed below. (more…)
Advance Feeding Tube Interpretive Guidelines
Authored By: Todd J. Selby
On September 27, 2012 CMS issued revised feeding tube interpretive guidelines to the State Operations Manual (“SOM”). While the actual federal regulation did not change, the SOM changes the interpretive guidelines, which can be found in Appendix PP of the SOM. (more…)
Hand in Hand Training for Nurse Aides
Authored By: Todd J. Selby
On September 14, 2012, CMS published a Survey and Certification letter addressing “Hand in Hand: A Training Series for Nursing Homes.” This training is in response to Section 6121 of the Affordable Care Act, which requires that CMS ensure that nurse aides receive regular training on caring for residents with dementia and prevention of abuse. (more…)
CMS Initiates Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes
Authored By: Todd J. Selby
On May 30, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced the Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes (Partnership) in order to transform the current focus of treatments and services provided to nursing home residents suffering from dementia and dementia-related illnesses. More specifically, this initiative promotes two goals: (1) resident-centered care; and (2) an emphasis on reducing the use of antipsychotic medications for this unique nursing home population. (more…)
Registration Open for DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Round 1 Recompete
Authored By: Kendra Conover
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has announced that registration is now open to all suppliers interested in participating in the Round 1 Recompete of the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (“DMEPOS”) Competitive Bidding Program.
In order to submit a bid for the Round 1 Recompete, suppliers will need to first register in the Individuals Authorized Access to the CMS Computer Services (“IACS”) online application. Once suppliers are registered in IACS, suppliers will receive a user ID and password to access the online DMEPOS Bidding System (“DBidS”). Suppliers must register even if they registered during a previous round of competition (i.e., Round 1 Rebid, Round 2, or the national mail-order competition). Suppliers that do not register will not be able to bid. (more…)
Internet-Based PECOS Improvements Increase Access to Information
Authored By: Todd J. Selby
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented changes to Internet-based PECOS to allow providers easier access to information. The following enhancements are now available: (more…)
Topical Index
- Home Health (44)
- Hospice (40)
- Litigation and Risk Management (38)
- Long-Term Care (140)
- Medicaid/Medicare enrollment and regulatory compliance (70)