Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
After a mid-week roadblock was established on a procedural vote all but derailing the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act and the integrated provisions that included a “doc fix”, the Senate doubled-back on Friday and passed a separate measure that patches the pending cuts (21%) in the physician fee schedule set for June 1. … Read more
Yesterday the Senate, via a procedural vote, set a roadblock on the continued track toward passage for the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act. The original version, re-crafted by the House to lower the price tag and then sent to the Senate, found limited traction on Wednesday. Oddly enough, the House version effectively trimmed … Read more
As the Senate is set this week to take a vote on the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (see my related posts), a key provision within the legislation having to do with implementation of the SNF payment system known as RUGs-IV remains in limbo. The PPACA (health care reform bill) required implementation of … Read more
Prior to the Memorial Day recess (holiday), the House passed its re-shaped version of the bill. The re-shaping primarily involved spending constraints; reaction to wide-spread criticism (public) of current (and recent) Congressional deficit spending binges as well as a realization that fall elections draw ever closer. Specifically, what the House did was: Abandoned any additional … Read more
Funny title that is rather misleading given the gravity of the health care/post-acute care provisions that are included in this bill. As is the case in Washington, especially these days, important health care provisions not addressed in the PPACA are coming forward in other bills; particularly bills involving unemployment benefits and COBRA benefits, etc. Such is … Read more
I had a phone conversation earlier today with a friend and colleague (he’s part owner of a rehab consulting and management company) and as we talked, the conversation reminded me about the host of issues facing health care administrators. Our conversation flowed to long-term care and specifically, SNFs (he spends a lot of his time … Read more
In 1998, CMS created the Special Focus Facility initiative or program designed to target or focus attention on improving the poorest performing facilities (performance defined by survey/compliance history). Each state selects up to 15 of the poorest performing facilities until the program reaches its cap or maximum of 136 facilities. The requirements from CMS to … Read more
My last post covered CMS’ proposed rule affecting LTAcHs in fiscal year 2011 (October 1, 2010). In this post I noted that CMS’ proposed rule included a disclaimer that any impacts related to the PPACA (health reform) were not included and as a result, CMS would from time to time, release updates providing additional guidance. … Read more
Yesterday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed rule for rates and other policy changes for FY 2011 (October 1, 2010) as applicable to Medicare inpatient stays within long-term acute care hospitals (LTAcH). The entire rule can be found at http://www.federalregister.gov/inspection.aspx#special. In their release, CMS noted that the proposed rule does … Read more
When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) became law, a provision within adds a new dimension to the rules on self-referral and refund requirements of overpayment (Medicare) contained within the Stark Law. Specifically, the PPACA requires the Secretary of HHS to develop a new self-disclosure protocol whereby health care providers can disclose known (or found) … Read more