The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could change the way it pays for COVID-19 tests, a top federal health official suggested this week. The move would come just months after the agency doubled the reimbursement for high-volume coronavirus lab tests.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is investigating a new outcomes-based reimbursement strategy for COVID-19 tests, according to an InsideHealthPolicy report. CMS Administrator Seema Verma said at an America’s Health Insurance Plans’ conference Tuesday that the organization has plans to move quickly on policy changes affecting reimbursement.
At a life stage where having a clear understanding of healthcare is critical, nearly seven in 10 Medicare beneficiaries agree that Medicare insurance is confusing and difficult to understand. That’s according to a new Medicare literacy survey poll of 1,000 Medicare beneficiaries.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a Medicaid informational bulletin Monday providing guidance to states on how they can help increase Medicaid reimbursement for skilled nursing facilities in an effort to mitigate the further spread of COVID-10 within these facilities. The guidance focuses on the implementation of specific infection control practices, such as designating a quarantine or isolation wing for COVID-19 patients.
For-profit nursing home operators that have faced accusations of Medicare fraud and kickbacks in recent years received more than $300 million in coronavirus relief payments, according to a Washington Post analysis released Tuesday. The allegations include putting elderly residents into unnecessary therapy services and delaying patients’ release to reap higher Medicare payments.
Nursing home operators will receive an aggregate $750 million Medicare pay increase for fiscal year 2021 under a final rule announced Friday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. It would amount to a 2.2% net increase starting Oct. 1, 2020, when fiscal year 2021 begins.
The nation’s supply of inpatient rehabilitation facilities, long-term care hospitals and skilled nursing facilities continued to decline in 2019, contracting by 1.5%, 3.9% and 0.8%, respectively. That’s according to data released Friday by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
An Omaha, NE, man was sentenced to 46 months in prison for using the personal information of senior living residents in several states to defraud Medicare and state Medicaid agencies out of thousands of dollars through fraudulent claims, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
Last week, a House of Representatives committee launched an investigation into how five large nursing home companies have handled COVID-19. Among the nursing homes under investigation are publicly traded Genesis Healthcare and Ensign Group, both of which have seen a drop in share prices since the announcement, according to Barron’s.
Additional objections have been filed against a Chapter 11 reorganization plan proposed by the majority bondholders for Barlett, IL-based continuing care retirement community Clare Oaks Senior Living.
