enforcement

CMS Issues Updates on Immediate Jeopardy

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Back in 2019, CMS issued revisions to Appendix Q of the State Operations Manual pertaining to Immediate Jeopardy considerations (on the part of surveyors) and ultimately, citation decisions.  This guidance was relevant for all provider and supplier types participating in Medicare (hospitals, home health, SNFs, etc.). In late October, CMS issued guidance on penalties. What … Read more

CMS Reinforces Hospice Regulatory, Fraud Focus

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Yesterday, CMS dropped a memo to state survey agencies titled, “Ensuring Consistency in the Hospice Survey Process to Identify Quality of Care Concerns and Potential Fraud Referrals”. The memo is available here: qso-25-06-hospice According to CMS, the memorandum aims to bolster current mechanisms for detecting instances where a hospice provider’s failure to adhere to the … Read more

OIG: CMS Should Take Action Against States with Poor SNF Survey Performance

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Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG), issued a report regarding the performance of contracted state agencies with respect to nursing home (SNF) compliance surveys. CMS contracts with state agencies, typically state departments of health or divisions thereto, to perform compliance/regulatory activities (surveys) in nursing homes. The report … Read more