CMS’s New Year Bundle of Joy: Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement

On November 16, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the final rule for the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (“CJR”) payment model governing reimbursement of hip and knee replacement surgeries. 791 hospitals i… Read More
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Categories: Client Advisory

CLIENT ADVISORY: Congress Cuts into Future Off-Campus Hospital Department Payments

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 includes a provision that may significantly decrease reimbursement for services provided in new hospital outpatient departments. Click here for more information about the facilities that will be grandfathered into th… Read More
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Categories: Client Advisory

CLIENT ADVISORY: A Death Preference Not a Panel: Medicare to Pay for Advance Care Planning at the Beneficiaries’ Discretion

On October 30th, 2015, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (“CMS”) issued its final rules for physician payment for CY 2016. As part of this rule, physicians will now be paid for providing Advance Care Planning consultation to Medicare… Read More
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Categories: Client Advisory

CLIENT ADVISORY: Alien Alert! New ALF Rules Propose Staff English Literacy Requirement, Changes in Incident Report Timing, and New Resident Rights

The Virginia Department of Social Services (DSS) recently proposed new regulations for Assisted Living Facilities (ALFs). While many of the revisions are aimed at improving clarity through reorganizing regulation sections and updating language to ref… Read More
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Categories: Client Advisory

The Duty to Accommodate: Increasing Penalties and Sanctions for Providers Who Fail to Furnish Civil Rights Accommodations

Recently, government agencies including the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Human Services (DHHS) (including the Office of Civil Rights (OCR)) have been actively pursuing healthcare providers who fail to provide adequate services or… Read More
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Categories: Client Advisory

Client Alert: Comments Due By September 14th on Sweeping CMS Proposed Rule That Would Comprehensively Revise Medicare and Medicaid Nursing Facility Conditions of Participation

On July 16, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a sweeping Proposed Rule that would comprehensively revise Medicare and Medicaid participation requirements for nursing facilities for the first time since 1991. Mellett… Read More
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Categories: Client Advisory

Virginia CCRC Charged with Discrimination Under the Federal Fair Housing Act: Balancing Restrictions and Resident Rights

Introduction A recent case may require residential health care providers—particularly continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs)—to carefully evaluate policies that could restrict resident access to facility amenities based on a resident’s… Read More
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Categories: Client Advisory

Send Which Data? The PBJ System for Staffing & Census Information

Introduction The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is moving forward with implementation of the Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ), an electronic system through which nursing facilities will soon be required to submit staffing and census info… Read More
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Categories: Client Advisory

Text Messaging in Patient Care: HIPAA Challenges and Possible Solutions

Text messaging has become popular in the health care field, permitting providers to multitask and to communicate more quickly than with phone calls or pages... providers should be aware of the consequences under the HIPAA and the HITECH Act Read More
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Categories: Client Advisory

The Prevailing Wage and Increased Costs for Nursing Home Providers

Beginning January 1, 2015 long-term care providers may be required to pay employees a higher minimum wage if providers enter into new contracts with the US Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) for veteran admissions. On October 7, 2014, the US D… Read More
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Categories: Client Advisory