Posted by Jason Greis on March 2, 2011 under Articles |
On Feb. 22, 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it had issued a civil money penalty (CMP) of $4.3 million against Cignet Health of Prince George’s County, MD., the first imposition of a CMP by OCR for a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. Two days later, HHS announced that General Hospital Corporation and Massachusetts General Physicians Organization, Inc., collectively referred to as Mass General, agreed to pay $1 million to settle potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Read More...
Tags: amita sanghvi, civil monetary penalties, cmp, enforcement, fine, greisguide, greisguidetoltachs, hhs, hipaa, HITECH, holly carnell, hospital, jason greis, kimberly kannensohn, LTACH, mcguirewoods, ocr, office of civil rights
Posted by Jason Greis on under Articles |
On February 18, 2011, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an interim final rule (Interim Rule) implementing Section 6113 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The Interim Rule, which becomes effective March 23, 2011, requires administrators of long-term care facilities (LTCF), including skilled nursing facilities (SNF) eligible for reimbursement under Medicare and nursing facilities (NF) eligible for reimbursement under Medicaid, to submit prior written notification of an impending LTCF closure to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Secretary), the state’s long-term care ombudsman and residents of the facility and their legal representatives or other responsible parties. LTCF administrators that do not comply with the new notice requirements may face sanctions, including civil monetary penalties of up to $100,000 and exclusion from participation in Federal health care programs. In addition, LTCFs must have related policies in place to avoid being cited for survey deficiencies. Read More...
Tags: 6113, adminstrator, brent rawlings, close, closure, cms, greisguide, greisguidetoltachs, jason greis, joseph hylak-reinholtz, mcguirewoods, nf, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, ppaca, relocate, Relocation, skilled nursing facility, snf
Posted by Jason Greis on February 13, 2011 under Articles, Industry News |
On February 8, 2011, Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (“Kindred”) and RehabCare Group, Inc. (“RehabCare”) jointly announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement under which Kindred will acquire RehabCare for an estimated $35 per share, which includes $26 per share in cash and 0.471 shares of Kindred common stock. The transaction was unanimously approved by the Boards of both Kindred and RehabCare and is expected to close at the end of the second quarter, pending approval from the shareholders of both companies and receipt of antitrust approval. Read More...
Tags: accretive, acquisition, analyst, bundled payment, greisguide, inpatient rehabilitation, irf, jason greis, john short, kindred, long term care hospital, ltac, LTACH, LTCH, mcguirewoods, merger, paul diaz, pay for performance, post-acute, rehabcare, skilled nursing, triumph
Posted by Jason Greis on January 8, 2011 under Articles, Industry News |
On December 22, 2010, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report (Report) highlighting key differences in Federal oversight standards among long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs) and certain other classes of hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. The Report was prepared in response to the Senate Finance Committee’s initiation of a formal investigation in March 2010 after a February 10, 2010 New York Times article described patient deaths and allegations of substandard patient care at one of the nation’s largest LTACH providers. Read More...
Tags: altha, baucus, GAO, government accountability office, grassley, greisguide, greisguidetoltach, investigation, jason greis, long term acute care hospital, long term care hospital, ltac, LTACH, LTCH, mcguirewoods, nalth, Select Medical
Posted by Jason Greis on November 9, 2010 under Articles |
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a private, not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies health plans and other healthcare related organizations published on Oct. 19, 2010, its 2011 Draft Accountable Care Organizations Criteria. The draft criteria describe the standards NCQA believes ACOs should meet in order to ensure that an ACO has the infrastructure necessary to function as an accountable entity and achieve improvements in quality and reductions in costs. The draft criteria were developed with the guidance of a multistakeholder Accountable Care Organization Task Force assembled by NCQA. Read More...
Posted by Jason Greis on October 17, 2010 under Articles |
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of HHS, to establish a protocol for healthcare providers and suppliers to disclose actual or potential violations of Section 1877 of the Social Security Act (Stark Act). Under the Stark Act, healthcare providers and suppliers may not refer patients to any entity for certain services if the physician has a financial relationship with that entity, unless an exception for such referral applies. Read More...
Tags: cms, greisguide, greisguidetoltachs, long term acute care hospital, long term care hospital, ltac, LTACH, LTCH, mcguirewoods, post-acute, self-referral disclosure protocol, srdp, Stark, voluntary