The federal government on Friday announced that it has handed out $15 million in civil monetary penalties (CMPs) to about 3,400 nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. That total includes about $10 million in fines stemming from targeted infection control surveys, and $5.5 million assessed to operators that failed to report COVID-19 data as required […]
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
The federal government’s top Medicare official on Thursday expressed grave concerns about the rising number of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes, citing growth in community spread and widespread evidence of lingering infection control problems at facilities across the country. “We are deeply concerned about the situation that we are seeing in nursing homes,” Centers for […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should be doing more to enforce proper staffing levels at nursing homes, while providing more detailed information about nurse coverage hours to the public, the federal government’s top health care watchdog found in a new report. About 7% of the nation’s nursing facilities failed to meet one […]
The federal government is proposing a range of reductions to Medicare reimbursement for various Part B therapy services as part of its Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for the calendar year 2021, including physical, occupational and speech-language services in skilled nursing facilities. The fee schedule was announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) […]
The federal government on Monday introduced a proposed rule that would, if finalized, make permanent at least some of the emergency telehealth flexibilities implemented during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, while potentially allowing a greater frequency of remote nursing home interventions. President Trump on Monday signed an executive order requiring the Department of Health and Human […]
The federal government on Friday finalized a previously proposed rule that will bring a 2.2% Medicare payment bump to the nation’s skilled nursing facilities. Under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2021 payment rule, facilities will see a total increase of $750 million in Medicare reimbursements over the next fiscal year, which begins […]
The federal government is in the midst of an aggressive plan to send point-of-care coronavirus tests to all of the nation’s more than 15,400 nursing homes — but individual state rules may prevent facilities from taking advantage of the program. “Due to the lower sensitivity and specificity of these test devices, not all state public […]
More than half of the states in the country have rising COVID-19 case counts in nursing facilities, according to new same-store data compiled by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). Utah led the way with an increase of 0.70 confirmed cases per nursing facility during the week of July 5 through […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 22 released the list of the first skilled nursing facilities to receive point-of-care COVID-19 testing devices under an initiative announced last week. The nursing homes identified by CMS will be receiving Quidel Sofia and Sofia 2 Instruments and BD Veritor Plus Systems, along with the […]
The federal government on Wednesday revealed more details about the prioritization of nursing homes that will receive point-of-care testing kits for COVID-19 under an ambitious new plan, with 600 set to be sent this week. In addition to targeting facilities with at least three or more confirmed or suspected cases in the last week, as […]
When it became apparent that COVID-19 was sweeping the country, one of the earliest major preventative steps was a move by the federal government to instate a near-total lockdown on any unnecessary visits. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the sweeping ban on March 13, which did include an exception for end-of-life […]
A group of U.S. senators asked top health officials to begin releasing detailed demographic data on coronavirus infections in nursing homes, pointing to mounting evidence that the disease disproportionately affects communities of color. The federal government has required the nation’s more than 15,000 nursing homes to report COVID-19 counts from May onward, but the public […]
Telehealth services accounted for a little more than a quarter of all medical visits to nursing homes covered by fee-for-service Medicare between March and June, according to the federal government’s top Medicare official. The figure, noted in an essay by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Seema Verma, marks the first nursing home-specific […]
When the COVID-19 pandemic started gathering momentum in spring, several states took steps to shield health care providers, including skilled nursing facilities, from liability related to care provided during the national emergency. But the rules varied widely from state to state, and other issues might be looming beyond the realm of lawsuits. The Department of […]
The federal government’s top Medicare official this week emphasized a desire to work closely with leaders in the nursing home landscape, pointing to industry feedback as a key driver behind a sweeping plan to send point-of-care COVID-19 testing units to the nation’s nursing facilities. “CMS obviously has a regulatory function with nursing homes,” Centers for […]
The federal government on Wednesday revealed more details about its ambitious effort to send point-of-care COVID-19 testing units and kits to every nursing home in the country, indicating that each facility will receive 400 tests to start with — and thereafter be able to secure subsequent tests for under $25 apiece through a “special concierge […]
The federal government on Tuesday announced an ambitious plan to send point-of-care tests directly to every nursing facility in the country. But unless the building has a specific waiver allowing staffers to perform tests, the facility will not receive the tests, SNN has learned. Operators must secure a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) waiver in […]
UPDATE, July 15: CMS and HHS on Wednesday provided more information about the initial roll-out of this program. Click here for the latest. The federal government on Tuesday announced that it would send point-of-care testing supplies for COVID-19 to all skilled nursing facilities in the country, starting next week, according to Admiral Brett Giroir, Assistant […]
The federal government last week announced a push to support nursing homes in emerging COVID-19 hotspots, using a two-pronged approach of targeted enforcement and technical support from Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs). But the group that represents those QIOs claims that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hasn’t provided them with nearly enough money […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday announced a plan to support nursing homes in new “COVID-19 hotspot areas,” with a combined focus on technical support and targeted inspections for facilities with a history of infection control issues. The White House Coronavirus Task Force, led by Vice President Mike Pence and coordinator […]
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