Articles and Blogs

Effective October 25, 2013, CMS deleted citations for tag F-454 under 42 C.F.R. §483.70(a) pertaining to Physical Environment—Life Safety From Fire.  CMS noted, because these requirements are covered under the Life Safety Code (“LSC”), there was a duplication of findings and, therefore, only needed to be cited under the appropriate LSC K Tag requirements. ... READ MORE

Executive Summary On October 1, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a Survey and Certification Letter (“S&C Letter”) that identified how the governmental shutdown (“Shutdown”) will affect state survey agency (“SA”) functions for all providers and suppliers. The S&C Letter delineates what SA functions are essential to ensure the protection... READ MORE

The most recent revisions to the Resident Assessment Instrument (“RAI”) User’s Manual became effective yesterday for all assessments with an assessment date on or after October 1.  The significant portion of the revisions addresses changes to therapy coding and swallowing and nutrition.   READ MORE

Prior to the government shutdown, Representative Jim McDermott of Washington introduced a bill that would end the hospital inpatient requirement for skilled nursing facility (“SNF”) coverage.   READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a Survey & Certification Memo (“S&C Letter”) to state agencies detailing the result of the governmental shutdown on long-term care providers as it relates to surveys.  As of this writing, the S&C Letter has not been published or otherwise made publicly available, and the below... READ MORE

Beginning October 1, 2013, a skilled nursing facility (“SNF”), a nursing facility (“NF”) or a dually-certified SNF/NF will be permitted to request an independent informal dispute resolution (“IIDR”) for all federal deficiencies cited on its standard or complaint survey (CMS-2567) that are subject to the imposition, collection and escrow of civil money penalties (“CMPs”)... READ MORE

The House of Representatives recently proposed legislation that would bundle payments for post-acute care services and create penalties for readmissions to Medicare-certified nursing homes. The proposed legislation would also reduce the annual market basket index for Skilled Nursing Services. READ MORE

On August 23, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published a memorandum that addressed issues arising from incomplete, inaccurate and missing Minimum Data Set (“MDS”) Discharge Assessments that adversely affect Skilled Nursing Facilities (“SNFs”) and Nursing Facilities (“NFs”).  Under 42 C.F.R. §§ 483.20(g) and (f)(1), SNFs and NFs are required to... READ MORE

On August 13, 2013, all nursing facilities participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs were required to be in compliance with the automatic sprinkler systems’ regulation that was published in a final rule on August 13, 2008. The regulation provided a five-year phase-in program to allow long-term care facilities (“Facilities”) to achieve compliance by... READ MORE

On August 2, 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued an update to the State Operations Manual (“SOM”) regarding the process for notification of a facility closure.  The updates to the SOM are the result of a final rule published in the Federal Register on March 19, 2013 and can be... READ MORE