Articles and Blogs

OMB Reviewing Final Rules on Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law Protections for EHR Deals Earlier this week, CMS and HHS sent two final rules to the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) that would extend safe harbor protections for arrangements that provide electronic health record (“EHR”) products to physicians until the end of... READ MORE

Since 2005, a group of associations known as the Long Term and Post Acute Care (LTPAC) Health Information Technology Collaborative (the Collaborative) have hosted the annual LTPAC Health IT Summit to discuss and advance health IT issues for long LTPAC providers.  Following the Summit, the Collaborative publishes a Road Map that identifies the progress... READ MORE

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center) is set to announce today it is testing the Advance Payment Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Model for participants in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. The Shared Savings Program provides incentives for participating health care providers who agree to work together and become accountable for coordinating... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has released instructions to prospective Accountable Care Organizations (“ACO”) for applying to the Shared Savings Program. The application process has both automated and paper options, but CMS strongly recommends using the automated application system. All organizations wanting to participate in the Shared Savings Program must submit a... READ MORE

CMS has just released the highly anticipated final regulations for accountable care organizations (ACOs) under Section 3022 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  The ACA requires accountable-care agreements to be offered under Medicare, starting in 2012.  READ MORE

Earlier this week, we highlighted the implementation by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of enrollment revalidations and screening categories, and which categories CMS places certain long-term care providers. It is important for providers and suppliers to understand what each screening category (limited, moderate, or high) entails and be aware of any events... READ MORE

As an update to the previous post on the revalidation enrollment procedures it is important for hospices, home health agencies, and DMEPOS to know what level of screening they will receive from the Medicare Administrative Contractor (“MAC”).  In some instances these providers and suppliers will be screened at either a “high” or “moderate” level... READ MORE

As of March 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented new screening criteria in the Medicare provider/supplier enrollment process.  Newly enrolling and revalidating providers and suppliers are placed in one of three categories – limited, moderate, or high – each representing the level of risk to the Medicare program for that... 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