Articles and Blogs

Hall Render recently launched a Long-Term Care blog (www.hallrender.com/ltc) to share industry information and insights with long-term care, home health and hospice care providers. Blog conversations will focus on Medicare, Medicaid and health care reform. In addition to sharing relevant news, the team will present its thoughts on common questions surrounding compliance, provider specifications... READ MORE

On August 1, 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2012 Final Rule for Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and the Long-term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System on its website. For FFY 2012, Providers will receive a net total increase of 1% to the standardized amount.  This... READ MORE

Hall Render is proud to announce that the Firm’s Shareholders have elected Bill Thompson to become the next Chairman of the Board and John Ryan to become the next President. Effective January 1, 2012, Bill Thompson, who has served as President of the Firm for the past nine years, will succeed John Render, who... READ MORE

Effective fiscal year (FY) 2012, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) final rule on Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities for FY 2012, released July 29, reduces Medicare skilled nursing facility (SNF) Prospective Payment System (PPS) payments by 11.1%. CMS states this action was taken to “better align... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) increased fiscal year (FY) 2012 Medicare payments by 2.5% for hospice providers in a final regulation released July 29.  Also included in the final regulation are requirements for hospice providers to start collecting quality of care data and changes to the way CMS counts hospice patients... READ MORE

SUMMARY On June 24, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia released a decision in Auburn Regional Medical Center v. Sebelius.  The decision reversed an unfavorable district court decision ruling that statutory deadlines to file appeals with the Provider Reimbursement Review Board (PRRB) were not subject to the doctrine... READ MORE

Late last week, a wide-ranging initiative to update federal human research protection regulations was announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the White House Office for Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) through issuance of an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM), which aims to catch the regulations up to... READ MORE

As record-breaking temperatures scorch the Midwest, long-term care providers are reminded to evaluate their emergency preparation plans. Proper planning can mitigate a situation from a potential disaster to a mere inconvenience. CMS provides a checklist, Emergency Preparedness for Every Emergency, for providers to use to evaluate their current emergency plans. Federal regulations at 42... READ MORE

On May 4, 2011, we issued a bulletin alerting hospital clients that the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) Office of Audit Services was in the process of sending numerous Contact Letters to hospitals across the country in an effort to verify their levels of compliance with Medicare billing requirements.  As part of this audit,... READ MORE

Recently, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) published a report of its findings pertaining to the nearly 70% growth of Medicare spending for hospice care provided to nursing facility (“NF”) residents from 2005 – 2009.  During that time, Medicare spending on hospice care for residents in NFs increased sixty-nine percent (69%) from $2.55 billion to... READ MORE