Articles and Blogs

Review of Changes to Sections on Quality of Life, Quality of Care, Physician Services, Nursing Services, Behavioral Health Services and Pharmacy Services This is the second article in a series discussing the complete overhaul of Part 483 to Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Requirements for States and Long-Term Care Facilities... READ MORE

Review of Changes to Sections on Resident Rights, Freedom from Abuse, Admission, Transfers, Discharge, Resident Assessments and Comprehensive Resident-Centered Care This is the first article in a series discussing the complete overhaul of Part 483 to Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Requirements for States and Long-Term Care Facilities by the... READ MORE

On September 28, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a complete overhaul of Part 483 to Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Requirements for States and Long-Term Care Facilities. CMS’s Final Regulations (the “Final Regulations”) cover many regulatory requirements for long-term care facilities (“Facilities”) and create new... READ MORE

On July 22, 2016, the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality/Survey & Certification Group released a memorandum that revised Chapter 7 of the State Operations Manual (“SOM”) and provided guidance on its policy to immediately impose federal remedies when a deficiency of a certain type is cited. The remedies are in addition to a... READ MORE

On August 5, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a Survey and Certification Memo (“S&C Memo”) on protecting resident privacy and prohibiting abuse-related photographs and recordings by nursing home staff.¹  Recent news stories have reported nursing home staff taking unauthorized photographs or video recordings of nursing home residents, sometimes in... READ MORE

On June 3, 2016, CMS released a memorandum that answered questions regarding the agency’s criteria for selection of enforcement remedies for long-term care facilities with deficiencies. The document reported data on enforcement actions taken by the agency when a nursing home is not in compliance with the Medicare and Medicaid requirements of 42 C.F.R.... READ MORE

On Friday, March 18, 2016, CMS released a memo entitled “Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) – Implementation of required electronic submission of Staffing Data for Long Term Care (LTC) Facilities.” The memo reminds LTC providers that the mandatory PBJ submission period begins July 1, 2016. The memo also contains information on how to register for PBJ reporting and... READ MORE

On Thursday, October 29, 2015, CMS issued the pre-publication copy of the final home health PPS rule for CY 2016 (“the Rule”).  The Rule adopts most of the proposals from July but makes a few key changes. Rates, Payments and Home Health Spending Although CMS makes several key changes to the final rule, CMS... READ MORE

On August 21, 2015, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (the “Court”) issued a ruling in Home Care Association of America v. David Weil, also known as the “companionship services lawsuit.” Unfortunately, it is more bad news for the home care industry. The Court ruled that the Department of Labor (“DOL”) has... READ MORE

Introduction CMS has proposed a comprehensive revision of the requirements for participation for long-term care facilities (the “Requirements”) for the first time since 1991.  The proposed regulations reflect the significant changes in technology, resident care and facility demographics since 1991.  CMS states the proposed regulations are designed to optimize resident safety, reflect current professional... READ MORE