Issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)on February 18, 2011, this regulation implements section 6113 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The interim final rule amends existing legislation by introducing new notice requirements associated with long-term care (LTC) facility and skilled nursing facility (SNF) closures. Its purpose is twofold: to protect resident health and safety, and to facilitate a “smooth transition” in the event of a facility’s closure.
CMS Will Acquire New Tools to Prevent Fraud
On December 16, 2010, at the regional health care fraud prevention summit in Boston, Massachusetts, HHS Secretary Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder announced that CMS will issue a solicitation for new analytic tools to prevent fraud in Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP. In its press release on the subject, HHS stated that the tools will “integrate many of the Agency’s pilot programs into the National Fraud Prevention Program and complement the work of the joint HHS and Department of Justice Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT).” The tools will be designed to prevent fraudulent payments before they occur, including through predictive modeling and identification of real-time trends by tracking billing patterns and other information.
To read the full press release, please go to: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/12/20101216a.html.
Congress Passes Legislation Delaying 25 Percent Medicare Physician Reimbursement Cut for One Year
On December 15, 2010, President Obama signed the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 into law. This legislation implements a one-year delay to a significant reduction in reimbursement—a 25 percent pay cut—for physicians treating Medicare beneficiaries. Current Medicare payment rates will now remain in effect through December 31, 2011. In addition, the Act extends other Medicare and Medicaid payment provisions that were set to expire, such as the Medicare work geographic adjustment floor, Transitional Medical Assistance, and the qualifying individual program. Among other things, the Act also repeals the delay of RUG-IV and provides for the continued inclusion of orphan drugs as covered drugs for children’s hospitals under 340B.
The full text of the Act is available at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr4994enr/pdf/BILLS-111hr4994enr.pdf.
OIG Submits Semiannual Report to Congress Reporting Savings and Expected Recoveries of $25.9 Billion
On December 15, 2010, the OIG submitted its semiannual report to Congress pursuant to the Inspector General Act of 1978. The report summarizes the OIG’s audit, investigation, and evaluation activities from April 1, 2010 through September 30, 2010 and for the 2010 fiscal year in total. Highlighted accomplishments for FY 2010 include savings and expected recoveries of $25.9 billion and the exclusion of 3,340 individuals and organizations from participation in Federal health care programs. The report summarizes the OIG’s Medicaid and Medicare reviews, its legal and investigative activities, its public health (CDC, FDA, HRSA, HIS, NIH) and human services (AoA, ACF) reviews, and other department wide issues.
To read the OIG’s press release, please go to: http://oig.hhs.gov/publications/docs/press/2010/sar2010press.pdf. To read the full report, please go to: http://oig.hhs.gov/publications/sar/2010/fall2010_semiannual.pdf.
New Medicare Primary Care Incentive Payment Program
On December 3, 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) announced its implementation of a primary care incentive payment program, which is scheduled to take effect in 2011. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), Medicare is authorized to offer this incentive to primary care practitioners for the services they provide under Part B, beginning January 1, 2011, and until January 1, 2016. According to section 5501(a) of the PPACA, Medicare will pay primary care practitioners “on a monthly or quarterly basis an amount equal to 10 percent of the payment amount” for such primary care services under Part B. This program is one example of the numerous incentives for primary care practitioners that will continue to be implemented under the authority of the PPACA.
For more information regarding this announcement, please go to: http://www.cms.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/MM7115.pdf and http://www.cms.gov/transmittals/downloads/R2081CP.pdf.
New Legislation Delays Medicare Physician Reimbursement Cut for an Additional Month
On November 30, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Physician Payment and Therapy Relief Act of 2010. This legislation implements a one-month delay to a significant reduction in reimbursement—a 23-percent pay cut—for physicians treating Medicare beneficiaries. The legislation also provides a 2.2-percent reimbursement increase for physicians. The reimbursement reduction will go into effect, beginning on December 31, 2010. Both the Obama administration and Congress hope to use this delay to develop a long-term solution.
For more information regarding the Physician Payment and Therapy Relief Act of 2010, please go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR05712:@@@D&summ2=m&.
CMS Introduces New Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation
On November 16, 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the establishment of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The acting director of the Center is Richard Gilfillan, M.D., the former president and CEO of Geisinger Health Plan and executive vice president of insurance operations for Geisinger Health System. The goal of the CMMI is to improve quality of care and make coverage more affordable for Medicaid and Medicare patients. To do this, the CMMI will collaborate with key stakeholders, which include consumers, patient advocates, physicians, hospitals, federal agencies and states. The Center will focus on three main objectives:
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New Regulation Outlining Changes to Medicare Program
This regulation, issued on November 24, 2010, outlines several changes to the Medicare program regarding the following: (1) the hospital outpatient prospective payment system, (2) the ambulatory surgical center payment system, (3) payments to hospitals for graduate medical education (GME) costs and indirect medical education (IME) costs, (4) rules governing physician self-referrals and related provider agreements in hospitals where physicians have investment interests or in hospitals owned by physicians, and (4) payments for certified registered nurse anesthetist services in rural and critical access areas. Changes to the hospital and ambulatory surgical centers payments systems will be to the amounts and factors used to determine payment rates. For both GME and IME hospital payments this regulation implements new provisions under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. With respect to physician self-referrals, this regulation introduces new limitations. And as to anesthesia services there will be changes to the effective date of when hospitals can begin receiving reasonable cost payments for these services.
CMS Issued Stark Self-Disclosure Protocol
On September 23, 2010, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a disclosure protocol pertaining to Stark Law self-referrals in accordance with Section 6409 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The purpose of the Medicare self-referral disclosure protocol (SRDP) is to create a mechanism that affords both health care providers and suppliers the opportunity to disclose either real or potential violations of the Stark law. In the event of a violation, a provider’s or supplier’s submission of this information to CMS may potentially result in a reduction in the amount due for the self-referral violations. For additional information regarding the SRDP, please go to the following website: http://www.cms.gov/PhysicianSelfReferral/65_Self_Referral_Disclosure_Protocol.asp
Correction of Final IPPS for ACHs (Acute Care Hospitals) and LTCH (Long-Term Care Hospital) PPS and FY 2011 Rates
This regulation was adopted in order to correct technical and typographical errors that were found in the preamble and addendum of two documents regarding hospital inpatient prospective payment: a final rule and the interim final rule. The final rule and interim final rule documents containing the errors are titled “Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System Changes and FY 2011 Rates; Provider Agreements and Supplier Approvals; and Hospital Conditions of Participation for Rehabilitation and Respiratory Care Services; Medicaid Program: Accreditation for Providers of Inpatient Psychiatric Services.” The regulation provides a summary of the errors and their corresponding corrections, which were effective beginning October 1, 2010.