News

President Trump submitted his administration’s fiscal year 2020 spending proposals to Congress last week – and they did not feature good news for aging services providers and the older adults they serve. 

Kaiser Health News reported last week that care centers have seen their fines drop by about 31 percent during the Trump administration. 

Non-improving late adopters in the reduction in long-stay residents who were receiving an antipsychotic medication may soon be subjected to enhanced oversight and enforcement remedies, according to a notice from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has revised Appendix Q of the State Operations Manual (SOM), used by surveyors for guidance in citing immediate jeopardy (IJ). This revision, known as Core Appendix Q, will provide a template for surveyors to identify the citation and notify providers in a clear, consistent and timely manner.

A new proposal that would greatly increase the number of employees eligible for overtime pay is raising concerns for aging services providers. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have released a free on-line training course in infection prevention and control for nursing home staff in the long-term care setting.  

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee this morning took a rare look at timely topics affecting care center quality, safety, workforce and regulations by holding a "Not Forgotten: Protecting Americans From Abuse and Neglect in Nursing Homes" hearing in Washington DC.  

Bills have been reintroduced in Congress that permanently protect Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) recipients against spousal impoverishment.  

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the Provider Threshold Report (PTR). This new report for the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program (SNF QRP) shows care centers if they are at risk of a 2 percent rate penalty for failure to meet the 80 percent reporting threshold requirement on the quality reporting measures during a calendar year.   

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) surprised all aging services providers on Feb. 21 by releasing version 12 of the MDS 3.0 Quality Measures (QM) User’s Manual. The most significant revisions focused on these key areas: 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced they are piloting a new Federal Monitoring Survey to replace the existing FOSS/FOQIS surveys. Under this pilot, federal oversight of surveys done by state agencies will be conducted primarily in three ways: 

A bipartisan bill to modify the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) training lock-out that is currently mandated in law was introduced this week by U.S. Representative Collin Peterson (D-MN) and U.S. Representative Sean Duffy (R-WI). The bill eliminates the statute’s rigid provisions and grants CMS greater flexibility in reinstating providers’ valuable CNA training programs.  

Responding to provider concerns, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is updating its new website for the Patient-Driven Payment Model and planning an earlier release of the RAI manual. 

After a brief government shutdown and continued uncertainty on a final appropriations bill, funding that supports affordable housing for seniors was signed into law this week. 

Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Provider Preview Reports are now available for review prior to the April 2019 Nursing Home Compare site refresh. Corrections to the underlying data are not permitted but providers can request a CMS review by March 4 if they believe their quality measure scores are being displayed inaccurately. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued updated guidance concerning the federal emergency preparedness requirements Appendix Z of the State Operations Manual – Emergency Preparedness. The memorandum was effective Feb. 1, 2019, and CMS directed that its content be communicated to state agency survey staff within 30 days.  

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed policy changes supporting its MyHealthEData initiative to improve patient access and advance electronic data exchange and care coordination throughout the healthcare system. 

LeadingAge national has developed a quick glance tool that contains the deadlines Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) must meet for submitting data under the SNF Value-Based Payment  program, the SNF Quality Reporting Program (QRP), and the Payroll-Based Journal reporting requirements.  

An agreement was reached last week to end the partial federal government shutdown and reopen affected agencies, including the U.S. Housing & Urban Development Department, for three weeks. 

In an interview with McKnight’s Long-Term Care News last week, LeadingAge national said that a growing threat of slightly smaller reimbursements for skilled nursing looms as the federal shutdown continues.