Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission issued a final rule effectively, banning non-compete agreements, provisions, etc. for employees, including executives. The final rule contains separate provisions defining unfair methods of competition for the two subcategories of workers. Specifically, the final rule provides that, with respect to a worker other than a senior executive, it is … Read more
Late yesterday, CMS released the draft of the Final Rule consistently defined as the “staffing mandate rule”. Earlier in the day, I wrote a post about the final staffing rule and the final Medicaid access rule. At the time, CMS had only notified everyone about the final rule(s) contents via a press release. The actual … Read more
Just announced this morning, CMS has finalized two hotly debated proposed rules into final rules. The final rules involve the SNF staffing mandate proposed last year and the Medicaid Access Rule, requiring 80% of payments for Medicaid HCBS programs go to compensation for direct care workers. The Medicaid Rule follows the original proposed rule while … Read more
TGIF! A frequent reader sent me a note earlier in the week and asked if I would drop in more clinically oriented stuff from time to time. I asked for details, and she said stuff “that is germane to patient care and operational improvements – QA/QI stuff”. So, today’s post is by request, sort of. … Read more
SNFs this one is for you! Yesterday’s post on billing fraud was too. It almost feels as if this second week of April has a compliance theme while last week, the focus was on CMS Proposed Rules. Assuredly, Wednesday will bring some different news as March CPI data drops. This news came last week via … Read more
Happy Eclipse Monday! The post title is meant as a bit of fun but there is a bit of relevancy as well. Billing fraud occurs via a process of hiding what actually has transpired (or should have) with the care of a patient. The most typical fraud is overbilling or charging the government for care … Read more
Happy Hump Day! As I wrote in a post on Monday regarding CMS’ Proposed Rule for SNFs, ’tis the season. This time of year, is when CMS drops proposed changes to reimbursement and other programmatic elements for all provider types, save Home Health which comes a little later (Home Health rate year is calendar year … Read more
It’s that time of year again where CMS begins to drop various rule proposals for updates to provider groups under PPS. From Hospitals, to SNFs, to Home Health and Hospice, each industry segment will see a proposed series of rate and programmatic (rule) updates from CMS. This is normal and it occurs at about the … Read more
A little over a week ago, an SNF operator dropped a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in the District of Utah against a staffing platform that works somewhat, like a staffing agency. The platform Nursa acts as a software clearinghouse connecting nursing staff (RNs. LPNs, CNAs, etc.) to facilities with open shifts – “Nursa exists … Read more
When I got married to my wife and business partner (the partner came after), part of our honeymoon was spent in Las Vegas. While there, we caught Penn and Teller’s Vegas show and it was AWESOME! I love magic and in particular, the kind that is up close and personal. The trade term now seems … Read more