Hospice Audit Series: Beyond Part D, OIG Scrutinizes the Hospice Industry to the Tune of $6.6 Billion
Hooper, Kearney and Macklin on Cutting Edge Topics in the False Claims Act
The Medicare program continues to face long term financial pressures associated with inflationary effects on health care costs and the growing wave of aging baby boomers. The Medicare Trust Fund, which is often viewed as a...more
The 60-day Refund Rule, created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, requires providers to report and return Medicare and Medicaid overpayments within 60 days of identifying them. See Section 1128J(d) of the Social Security Act,...more
Earlier this week, President Biden released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 President’s Budget. As a reminder, every year, the White House releases a budget that serves as its official funding request to Congress for the following...more
Could 2024 bring renewed growth for the skilled nursing and senior housing market or will proposed regulatory changes and the lingering effects of COVID-19 stymie hopes for a potential rebound? With rising occupancy rates...more
Congress may be on summer break, but reg season is in full swing. Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final reg that will impact Medicare hospital payments in fiscal year (FY) 2024, which...more
Hospice care is a type of health care that patients with terminally ill conditions rely on at the end of their lives. This type of care focuses on pain management and emotional, spiritual, and familial support for patients...more
The U.S. Supreme Court settled an Administrative Procedures Act (APA) dispute on June 24, 2022, involving Medicare's formula to adjust rates paid to safety-net hospitals, clarifying a statute that dictates how to calculate...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) recently released key Medicare figures for 2022 that will affect all elderly and disabled individuals who receive program benefits. This notice summarizes the changes...more
As previously discussed, many of the telehealth flexibilities in place during the COVID-19 pandemic are set to expire at the end of the federal Public Health Emergency (PHE), unless federal and state legislators act to make...more
Hughes v. Northwestern University, No. 19-1401: Whether allegations that a defined-contribution retirement plan paid or charged its participants fees that substantially exceeded fees for alternative available investment...more
On April 27, 2021, CMS issued the fiscal year (FY) 2022 proposed rule for the hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) and long-term care hospital (LTCH) prospective payment system (the Proposed Rule). Among...more
A federal judge recently ruled that submission of electronic data to the government can, under appropriate circumstances, give rise to liability under the False Claims Act. In U.S. ex rel. Marc Silver et al. v. Omnicare Inc....more
Payment misalignment in Medicare FFS for Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment as the subject of potential legislative and/or regulatory reforms - New opportunities for investor-backed behavioral health platforms in...more
Report on Medicare Compliance 30, no. 8 (March 1, 2021) - According to a CMS spokesperson, “CMS has not yet determined when Targeted Probe and Educate reviews will resume.” Meanwhile, “CMS continues to temporarily pause...more
Passed by Congress Dec. 21, 2020, and signed by President Donald Trump Dec. 27, 2020, the $1.4 trillion omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act includes numerous provisions that directly impact Medicare and Medicaid...more
What does Medicare cover? What are the costs of Medicare? What happens if you forget to enroll for Medicare? Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people in the United States who are over the age of 65 or...more
On September 1, 2020, CMS published a proposed rule that would define “reasonable and necessary” for purposes of coverage under Part A and Part B of the Medicare program, and that would establish a new expedited Medicare...more
If you plan to move states, can you take your Medicare or Medicaid plans with you? The answer depends on whether you have original Medicare, Medicare Advantage, or Medicaid. Medicare - If you have original Medicare...more
Last week, HHS announced that it will now accept additional applicants for the Provider Relief Fund Phase 2 General Distribution. All eligible providers will only receive funding of up to 2 percent of their reported total...more
Insurance payments for healthcare services and supplies are frequently based on projections of future costs, often measured against a baseline calculated on past costs. However, COVID-19 and its attendant changes to the...more
Part D Plan Sponsors’ Access to Medicare Parts A and B Claims Data Extracts - As detailed in previous posts in this series, one major objective that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) addressed in a...more
On August 17, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems final rule for Fiscal Year 2019 (Final Rule). The Final Rule contains a number of important...more
On April 24, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) Proposed Rule (CMS-1694-P). Among other changes, CMS proposes eliminating...more
On Tuesday, May 23, the White House released the President's fiscal year 2018 (FY18) budget, launching a contentious and consequential debate that is expected to last through the end of the fiscal year and possibly beyond....more
On November 10, 2016, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its 2017 Work Plan. The 2017 Work Plan outlines the areas of special concern to the OIG and...more