Efforts by state Medicaid Fraud Control Units resulted in a total of 23 criminal convictions and more than $2.2 million in criminal monetary recoveries related to assisted living in fiscal year 2019, according to an annual report released Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. One case is responsible for much of the dollar amount.
LeadingAge has sent a second letter to the White House Coronavirus Task Force, asking the White House and Department of Housing and Urban Development to issue guidance and offer regulatory relief for the thousands of HUD-assisted communities primarily serving older adults. The CDC, CMS and the Department of Justice also announced developments over the weekend.
Provider groups were eagerly awaiting guidance that ultimately came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday to help maximize personal protective equipment for those who need it the most in the battle against coronavirus. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services also issued recommendations.
Medicare and several leading insurers have committed to helping mitigate the costs associated with testing for and treating the novel coronavirus that has been spreading nationwide. In addition, officials in California, New York, Maryland, Vermont and Washington state have ordered insurance companies not to charge residents who get tested for the novel coronavirus COVID-19, which had infected more than 113,000 people and killed more than 4,000 worldwide as of Monday morning.
“There are plenty of assisted living and memory care deals out there right now, but most don’t fit with our or our operators’ objectives. So meaningful opportunities for us in that asset class have been fewer and farther between,” CareTrust REIT Chief Investment Officer Mark Lamb said Friday during the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2019 earnings call.
A bipartisan coalition of 27 members of the House of Representatives is asking the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to withdraw its proposed Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulation.
The Department of Health and Human Services would see a 10% funding cut, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development would see a 15% funding cut, under the $4.8 trillion budget proposed Monday by President Donald Trump. Organizations representing senior living operators are reviewing it with an eye toward how the proposed cuts would affect operators and those they serve and a promise to advocate for their members.
The Medicaid block grant program announced Thursday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services won’t directly affect elderly and disabled beneficiaries, CMS Administrative Seema Verma said, but it will help address a “looming cost crisis,” caused by the aging of the population, that threatens the overall sustainability of the healthcare program for low-income individuals.
Improving the information available about assisted living communities on state websites could help steer prospective residents and their families to communities that best meet their needs and minimize move-outs, say the authors of a study in The Gerontologist.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should withdraw the proposed Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulation because, if finalized, it would jeopardize access to care and “cripple” Medicaid financing in several states, leaders of the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living and the American Hospital Association said Thursday.
