Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen the federal government rapidly dismantle the dense scaffolding of rules and regulations that had been built over the course decades, all in the name of fighting the novel coronavirus. Ideas once unthinkable — doctors providing consultations over Skype without fear of violating HIPAA, a blanket freeze on the […]
Category: Compliance
The $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill that was approved late Wednesday in the Senate includes $200 million in funding for a federal push to bolster infection-control efforts in the nation’s nursing homes. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has placed infection control at the center of its emergency nursing home inspection protocols, suspending […]
Therapy providers were partially included in the federal government’s attempts to waive restrictions on various health providers amid the coronavirus, but some experts say this recent round won’t enable sufficient virtual care for nursing home residents — and also doesn’t decrease the risks therapists are experiencing on the ground amid the pandemic. An expanded telehealth […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) late Monday approved 11 new state Medicaid waivers, opening the door for a host of emergency solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic — from an elimination of prior authorization requirements to the potential provision of care at unlicensed facilities. After Florida and Washington state landed the first 1135 […]
The federal government on Monday announced the release of an updated survey tool for nursing home inspectors, with an even stricter focus on infection-control policies — derived directly from lessons learned at a facility in Washington state that served as the epicenter of the first COVID-19 outbreak in the United States. The Centers for Medicare […]
The federal government on Sunday waived several key quality reporting requirements for skilled nursing facilities, framing the move as a way for operators to focus more on patients and less on paperwork during the coronavirus crisis. The deadlines for submitting fourth-quarter 2019 data under the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program (QRP) and the Value-Based […]
A note to our readers: As the coronavirus crisis continues to unfold, SNN will bring you the information that you need in one easy-to-access place. The weeks ahead will bring challenges both macro and micro, with potentially sweeping federal action needed to “bend the curve” and maintain our health care system’s ability to function — […]
A preliminary analysis from the federal government concluded that the sharing of staff members among multiple nursing homes — along with employees continuing to work while sick — helped to hasten the spread of the novel coronavirus in Washington state. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed the timeline of a COVID-19 outbreak […]
The federal government’s emergency coronavirus survey apparatus for nursing homes is slowly coming to life, with a current focus on those areas hardest hit by COVID-19. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on March 4 took the early step of refocusing all nursing home inspections on infection control and reported cases of the […]
The vast majority of nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the country have stocks of the vital protective supplies that they need to blunt the spread of the novel coronavirus, but unless officials and the public take drastic action, those stockpiles could soon run dry. Without a change, 20% of the nursing homes in […]
The Trump administration on Tuesday announced an emergency expansion of telehealth coverage for Medicare beneficiaries amid the COVID-19 outbreak, removing multiple regulatory barriers to doctors providing remote care for nursing home residents. Retroactive to March 6, Medicare can pay for virtual consultations provided through telehealth platforms across the country, including those conducted in a patient’s […]
Florida became the first state to land an emergency Medicaid waiver amid the ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus, granting nursing homes in the Sunshine State a variety of exceptions intended to help providers weather the crisis — and more states could soon follow suit. Under the Section 1135 waiver approved this week by the […]
When the federal government prohibited all non-essential visits to nursing homes on Friday, in-house therapy teams and third-party companies were left wondering exactly who counted as “essential” — and whether they were part of the exempted health care workers that can continue to enter facilities. In general, SNN found that therapy services are continuing throughout […]
A sweeping ban on nursing home visits dominated headlines both inside and outside the industry over the weekend, but buried in the federal government’s recent emergency COVID-19 guidelines was a waiver of the three-day hospital stay rule for Medicare skilled nursing coverage. Under normal conditions, a Medicare beneficiary must remain in the hospital for three […]
The residents and patients at skilled nursing facilities are uniquely imperiled by COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that’s rapidly altering the routines of everyday life worldwide. As a result, SNFs across the country have gone into lockdown, with the federal government on Friday issuing a blanket ban of non-essential visits. Their hospital […]
Hospital executives in the state of Indiana redirected at least $1.17 billion in extra Medicaid dollars, drawn down from the state’s supplemental payment program to boost nursing home reimbursement, toward projects to expand their own health systems, an investigation by the IndyStar published on Thursday revealed. The multi-part series — which tackled the funding system […]
Public health officials and the nation’s most prominent nursing home industry leaders haven’t minced words when describing the threat that COVID-19 presents to residents and operators, and neither will we: The next few months will present the some of the most serious challenges that long-term and post-acute care providers have ever faced. The best nursing […]
The federal government late Friday formally issued new guidance prohibiting all non-essential visits to nursing homes, while also waiving the three-day hospital stay requirement for subsequent Medicare skilled nursing coverage, as officials look to blunt the effects of the novel coronavirus on elderly Americans. The strict ban allows exceptions for families to visit loved ones […]
UPDATE, Saturday, March 14: CMS formally issued its guidance late Friday, enacting a ban on most non-essential visits to nursing homes and also waiving the three-day stay rule for Medicare skilled nursing coverage. The federal government will soon issue guidance directing nursing home operators to ban the vast majority of visitors amid the spread of […]
As a variety of voices — from top health officials to the leaders of trade groups to the president — urge Americans not to visit nursing homes, a new analysis shows that more than half of the nation’s skilled nursing facilities are either in or near counties with active cases of COVID-19. A little more […]
Subscribe
Receive industry updates and breaking news from SNN.