COVID-19

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 6. Provider Relief Fund The Office of Management and Budget has issued guidance on how funds received through the Provider Relief Fund should be audited.  Entities that receive government grants of more than $750,000 are subject to a single audit requirement.  Because of the Provider Relief Fund, many hospitals that have never been subject to this audit requirement now must comply with it.  The deadline originally was October 1 but was postponed and it has now been delayed again until June 30.   [...]

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as 3:30 p.m. on Friday, December 18. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS has issued an Interim Final Rule with Comment Period that establishes a New COVID-19 Treatments Add-on Payment (NCTAP) under the Medicare inpatient prospective payment system effective from November 2, 2020 until the end of the public health emergency for COVID-19.  To mitigate potential financial disincentives for hospitals to provide new COVID-19 treatments during the COVID-19 emergency, Medicare will provide an enhanced payment for eligible inpatient cases that involve use of certain new products with current [...]

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 17. CDC Webinar on Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Vaccines The CDC will hold a clinical outreach and communication activity webinar on Friday, December 18 at 2:00 (eastern) to give clinicians an overview of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.  Clinicians will learn about vaccine characteristics and administration, vaccinating special populations, and contraindications.  They will also get answers to a number of clinical questions CDC has received about these new vaccines.  Go here for further information about the webinar and to register to participate.   [...]

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 10. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS has updated its FAQs for Medicare fee-for-service billing with 20 new or updated questions, all marked “12/8/2020,” that address payments for monoclonal antibody treatments and vaccines, including billing and payments for skilled nursing facilities and non-excepted off-campus provider-based departments; requirements for providing antibodies through infusion therapy; and “hospital without walls” flexibilities.  Find the new and updated questions between pages 122 and 135. CMS has posted an infographic on coverage of monoclonal antibody products to treat [...]

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal governments as of 2:45 p.m. on Friday, December 4. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS has updated its FAQs on Medicare fee-for-service billing with 14 new questions that address administration and billing for monoclonal antibody therapy.  The new questions can be found on pages 33-34, p. 34, pp. 120-121, p. 121, pp. 121-124, pp. 124-125, p. 125 (four questions), p. 126, pp. 126-127, p. 127, and pp. 127-128. CMS covers much the same ground in an updated version of its document “Medicare Monoclonal Antibody COVID-19 Infusion Program Instruction.” CMS [...]