Home Health & Hospice Week
OIG Set To End Its COVID Flexibilities, Too
Check your own policies for compliance — before the OIG does. Don’t forget that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services isn’t the only agency winding down its COVID-19 public health emergency policies when the PHE ends in less than two months. “OIG flexibilities … end upon the expiration of the COVID-19 Declaration on May 11, 2023,” the HHS Office of Inspector General says in a new statement regarding PHE status. Reminder: After the PHE began, the OIG issued two policy statements clarifying that it wouldn’t impose administrative sanctions on physicians and other practitioners who waived telehealth copays; and that it wouldn’t impose adminis trative sanctions for remuneration covered by CMS blanket waivers. It also issued Frequently Asked Questions addressing issues such as offering monetary rewards to recipients for COVID vaccinations and offering free space for COVID vaccine storage. All of those PHE-era policies will end with the emergency declaration on May 11, OIG clarifies. More details are at https://oig.hhs.gov/coronavirus/covid-flex-expiration.asp.
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Reimbursement:
MedPAC Throws Spotlight On ‘All-Time High’ Profit Margin To Justify 7% HH Rate Cut Rec
‘Medicare has always overpaid for home health services,’ advisory body insists in new report to [...] - Know Your Facts:
Home Health Stats Continued Their Slow Decline In 2021
Spending, number of HHAs, users, and periods of care all down in latest period. Policy- [...] - Hospice:
MedPAC Urges Congress To Cut Hospice Cap By 20%
Commission follows through on arbitrary slash to aggregate cap. Over industry protest, an influential advisory [...] - Budget:
$150 Billion Increase For HCBS Headlines Biden Budget Proposal For Home Care Providers
Watch out: Boosted survey funding would translate to more surveys. The Biden administration has blown [...] - Fraud & Abuse:
Biden Administration Wants To Rev Fraud-Fighting Engine Even Higher
More medical review, audits, and enforcement are in the 2024 budget proposal. If the current [...] - Mergers & Acquisitions:
PE-Backed Rural Hospice Chain Expands In Missouri
Plus: North Carolina hospice provider sheds home health business. An Alabama-based hospice chain has enlarged [...] - Industry Notes:
OIG Set To End Its COVID Flexibilities, Too
Check your own policies for compliance — before the OIG does. Don’t forget that the [...] - Industry Notes:
Wage Index System Needs An Overhaul, MedPAC Indicates
Provider payment cuts aren’t the only topics MedPAC is tackling. In its March meeting, MedPAC [...] - Industry Notes:
Oversight Agencies Examine MA Denials, Supplemental Benefits
The feds are looking at Medicare Advantage plans more and more closely. So indicate two [...] - Industry Notes:
Nonprofit And Accredited Agencies Score Higher, Studies Say
Potential patients, referral sources, and others could be swayed by two recent studies pointing to [...] - Industry Notes:
Kickbacks Feature In Texas Fraud Case
A Houston home health agency owner is facing fraud charges. Rose Davies, owner of Pri [...] - Industry Notes:
NY Agency Agrees To Data Breach Class Action Settlement
A New York home care agency has agreed to pay up for a HIPAA data [...] - Industry Notes:
DOL Warns Against Retaliation
A Department of Labor investigation does not appear to be going well for another New [...]
