Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement
LTCHs SET FOR 2.5 PERCENT RAISE
So Long, Satellite Bed Restrictions Long-term care hospitals won't have to deal with potential restrictions on the number of satellite beds they establish once they're fully ramped up on the LTCH prospective payment system. That's according to a policy change outlined in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' 2004 PPS payment update for LTCHs. The satellite provision goes into effect when the five-year PPS phase-in is complete, or when a facility opts for an early transition to 100 percent PPS payment, whichever comes first. Under the payment update, LTCHs will receive a 2.5 percent increase in their payment rate in 2004. The rule - published in the June 6 Federal Register - also moves the annual payment rate update for the nation's 270 or so LTCHs from Oct. 1 to July 1. Lesson Learned: With the change in the timing of future Medicare rate changes, LTCHs should get used to a different payment update cycle than acute care facilities. Diagnosis related groups, however, will continue to be updated in October.
Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement
- Medicare Private Plans:
PPOs WON'T PROLONG MEDICARE SOLVENCY, SAYS CMS
Adding preferred provider organizations to Medicare, as the White House strongly advocates, won't significantly improve [...] - Pharmaceuticals:
Senate Finance Produces Bipartisan Rx Plan
Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and ranking Democrat Max Baucus (DMT) unveiled a [...] - Hospitals:
CMS ISSUES FINAL OUTLIER RULE
Hospitals will have until Oct. 1, 2003, before their most up-to-date cost data is used [...] - Hospitals:
RECRUITMENT PLAN DRAWS FEDS' IRE
Double-Check Your Physician Relocation Programs The controversial intersection between physician recruitment and Stark and anti-kickback [...] - Pharmaceuticals:
PHARMA ENFORCEMENT REACHES A BOIL
Drug Giant Targeted In Criminal Probe The aggressive health care fraud enforcement team at the [...] - Fraud & Abuse:
200 PROVIDERS EXCLUDED PER MONTH
Medicaid rebates were at the center of the biggest health care fraud settlement over the [...] - Business Arrangements:
RADIOLOGIST-HOSPITAL JV CLEARS ANTI-KICKBACK HURDLES
Other Specialties Could Face Trickier Path The fact that radiologists don't typically order the tests [...] - HIPAA:
KNOW WHEN NOT TO SECURE A BUSINESS ASSOCIATE AGREEMENT
Health care providers and plans may not have as many Health Insurance Portability and Accountability [...] - Long-Term Care:
LTCHs SET FOR 2.5 PERCENT RAISE
So Long, Satellite Bed Restrictions Long-term care hospitals won't have to deal with potential restrictions [...] - Hospice:
JCAHO STAYS ON FOR HOSPICE ACCREDITATION
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations will serve as a national accrediting organization [...] - Reimbursement :
DSH PITFALLS EMERGE IN OIG SCRUTINY
If you've had your disproportionate share hospital payment calculations challenged for including physician practice plan [...] - People
New Face Atop Troubled OIG As exiting HHS Office of Inspector General chief Janet Rehnquist [...] - Bill Watch
The following bills were introduced in the House: H.R. 2323. A bill to amend to [...] - Register Watch
The end-stage renal disease demonstration program, announced by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator [...] - PROGRAM MEMO ROUNDUP
Home health agencies in Connecticut and Massachusetts may be in line for a paperwork break [...]
