Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
New Distributions of Provider Relief Fund Money
On Tuesday morning the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will distribute $10 billion to hospitals located in COVID-19 hotspots that have cared for especially large numbers of COVID-19 patients. It also will distribute $25 billion in CARES Act Provider Relief Fund money to safety-net providers, including $10 billion specifically for safety-net hospitals. (Some of the language in this memo is taken directly from HHS’s news release.) The $10 Billion Distribution to COVID-19 Hotspot Hospitals On Monday HHS sent messages to all hospitals asking them to update [...]
Coronavirus Update for Monday, June 8
Coronavirus update for Monday, June 8 as of 2:30 p.m. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS has updated its “COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Blanket Waivers for Health Care Providers” document. Added since the last version are a new section, on page 14, on altered time lines for Medicare’s Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model, along with two modifications: one on page 10, addressing site-neutral payments for long-term care hospitals, and another on page 13, in support of care for patients in long-term care hospital patients. CMS – Stakeholder Engagement Calls [...]
Coronavirus Update for Friday, June 5
Coronavirus update for Friday, June 5 as of 2:30 p.m. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services In the past week CMS issued six section 1135 waivers to give states greater flexibility to serve their Medicaid beneficiaries during the COVID-19 public health emergency. It issued waivers to Alaska (two waivers), Arizona, Mississippi, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The CDC has updated its guidance on recommendations for people who believe they have been exposed to people with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 when the people to whom they have been [...]
Coronavirus Update for Thursday, June 4
Coronavirus update for Thursday, June 4 as of 2:30 p.m. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS has published a compendium of Medicare physician fee schedule changes implemented in recent months in response to the COVID-19 crisis. CMS has posted a table that describes COVID-19 adjustments announced yesterday for CMMI model programs. CMS announced that the Nursing Home Compare web site now provides data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in individual nursing homes. Accompanying this announcement is publication of an FAQ on this nursing home data and a memo to [...]
Coronavirus Update for June 3
Coronavirus update for Wednesday, June 3 as of 12:00 p.m. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS has updated its FAQ on Medicare COVID-19 fee-for-service billing. All of the changes address national coverage determinations and are clearly marked within the document. Providers should review them carefully. In response to COVID-19, CMS is providing new flexibilities and adjustments to current and future CMMI models to address the emergency. It has released a chart that outlines the models and the new changes. CMS also has written a blog post describing additional CMMI model flexibilities. CMS has released guidance to states supporting [...]