Friday Feature: An End to Arbitration Clauses?

TGIF! It’s been a long week with the eclipse and lots of economic news plus all the stuff going on in the Middle East. My inbox is flooded so weekend reading will need to include a lot of parsing and pitching. On Tuesday in the Senate, a bill was introduced by Senators Blumenthal (CT) and … Read more

Medicare, DOJ, Fraud and the Eclipse?

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

Wednesday Feature: Hospice Proposed Rule for 2025

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

CMS Releases 2025 PPS Proposed Rule for SNFs

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

The Politics of Population and Immigration

Followers know that I don’t write much about politics, staying pretty straight-forward on health policy and economics topics. A little diversion occurs today, but honestly, not much. We are after all, in an election cycle and thematically (the title), demographics will be center stage but likely, for the wrong reasons. As I watch the election … Read more

Wednesday Feature: Econ Rollercoaster

Happy Hump Day! This will drop before the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee announces its decision on interest rates today. Prediction: Rates will remain unchanged. The Fed will be a bit hawkish however, about rate policy reminding everyone that they are poised, if necessary, to hike rates to fight inflation. Thus, the title for today … Read more

Legislation Grab Bag

Within the normal news cycle, legislation often gets ignored, especially in this hyper volatile election cycle we have begun. I’m expecting very little in terms of reform or new legislation on important healthcare issues to come forward, and, so far, I’m right. With near gridlock due to small opposing majorities in both houses of Congress, … Read more

Penn and Teller and the Disappearing SNF

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

Wednesday Feature: A Peek into the Future

Happy Hump Day! A favorite movie series of mine is Back to the Future, particularly parts 1 and 2. Made in the 80s, both are fun to watch in terms of their references to points in time, especially in part 2 where the “future” is 2015! Having lived through 2015, my memories don’t quite compare … Read more

Record-breaking $2.7 Billion Paid by Healthcare Providers in False Claims Act Cases

A couple of weeks ago, on February 22nd. the Department of Justice issued its annual statement regarding False Claims Act activity in FY 2023 (federal fiscal years run 10/1 to 9/30). “Settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act exceeded $2.68 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2023. The government and whistleblowers were … Read more