Contact Us
Subscribe to this blog via RSS
Join us on LinkedInCategories
- Workplace Violence
- Assisted Living Facilities
- Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights
- Medical Residents
- EMTALA
- FDA
- Reproductive Rights
- Roe v. Wade
- SCOTUS
- Medical Spas
- medical billing
- No Surprises Act
- Mandatory vaccination policies
- Workplace health
- Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act
- Code Enforcement
- Department of Labor ("DOL")
- Employment Law
- FFCRA
- CARES Act
- Nursing Home Reform Act
- Acute Care Beds
- Clinical Support
- Coronavirus
- COVID-19
- Emergency Medical Services
- Emergency Preparedness
- Families First Coronavirus Response Act
- Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”)
- KBML
- medication assisted therapy
- SB 150
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Legislative Developments
- Corporate
- United States Department of Justice ("DOJ")
- Employee Contracts
- Non-Compete Agreement
- Opioid Epidemic
- Sexual Harassment
- Health Resource and Services Administration
- House Bill 333
- Litigation
- Medical Malpractice
- Senate Bill 79
- Locum Tenens
- Senate Bill 4
- Physician Prescribing Authority
- Chronic Pain Management
- HIPAA
- Prescription Drugs
- "Two Midnights Rule"
- 340B Program
- Drug Screening
- EHR Systems
- Electronic Health Records (“EHR")
- Hospice
- ICD-10
- Kentucky minimum wage
- Minimum wage
- Primary Care Physicians ("PCPs")
- Skilled Nursing Facilities (“SNFs”)
- Uncategorized
- Urinalysis
- Affordable Insurance Exchanges
- Compliance
- Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- Federally Qualified Health Centers (“FQHCs”)
- Fraud
- Health Care Fraud
- HIPAA Risk Assessment
- HPSA
- KASPER
- Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure
- Kentucky’s Department for Medicaid Services
- Mental Health Care
- Office for Civil Rights ("OCR")
- Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (OIG)
- Pharmacists
- Physician Assistants
- Qui Tam
- Rural Health Centers (“RHCs”)
- Stark Laws
- Telehealth
- Accountable Care Organizations (“ACO”)
- Affordable Care Act
- Alternative Payment Models
- Anti-Kickback Statute
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”)
- Certificate of Need ("CON")
- Charitable Hospitals
- Data Breach
- Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI)
- False Claims Act
- Fee for Service
- Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act)
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
- Health Professional Shortage Area ("HPSA")
- Hospitals
- HRSA
- Kentucky Board of Nursing
- Limited Services Clinics
- Medicaid
- Medical Staff By-Laws
- Medically Underserved Area ("MUA")
- Medicare
- Mid-Level Practitioners
- Part D
- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”)
- Rural Health Clinic
- American Telemedicine Association (“ATA”)
- Criminal Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”)
- Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (“HEAT”)
- Hydrocodone
- Kentucky Pharmacists Association
- Qualified Health Care Centers (“FQHC”)
- Telemedicine
- United States ex. Rel. Kane v. Continuum Health Partners
- Webinar
- Agreed Order
- APRNs
- Chain and Organization System (“PECOS”)
- Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California
- Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA")
- Emergency Rooms
- Enrollment
- Hinchy v. Walgreen Co.
- Jimmo v. Sebelius
- Kentucky Senate Bill 7
- Maintenance Standard
- Medicare Part D
- Minors
- Overpayments
- Re-validation
- Texting
- Vitas Innovative Hospice Care
- 2014 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”)
- 501(c)(3)
- All-Payer Claims Database ("APCD")
- Appeal
- Cadillac tax
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Chiropractic services
- Chronic Care Management
- Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (“CLIA”)
- Compliance Officer
- Compounding
- CPR
- Dispenser
- Drug Quality and Security Act (“DQSA”)
- Essential Health Benefits
- Federation of State Medical Boards (“FSMB”)
- Food and Drug Administratio
- HealthCare.gov
- House Bill 3204
- ICD-9
- Individual mandate
- Kentucky Medical Practice Act
- Kindred v. Cherolis
- Kynect
- Long-term care communities
- Mobile medical applications ("apps")
- Model Policy for the Appropriate Use of Social Media and Social Networking in Medical Practice (“Model Policy”)
- National Drug Code ("NDC")
- National Institutes of Health
- New England Compounding Center ("NECC")
- Ophthalmological services
- Outsourcing facility
- Physician Compare website
- Ping v. Beverly Enterprises
- Power of Attorney ("POA")
- Prescriber
- Social Media
- Spousal coverage
- State Health Plan
- Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”)
- UPS
- "Plan of Correction"
- Advanced Practice Registered Nurses
- Affinity Health Plan
- Arbitration
- Audit
- Call Coverage
- Community health needs assessment (“CHNA”)
- Condition of Participation ("CoP")
- Daycare centers
- Decertification
- Denied Claims
- Department of Medicaid Services’ (“DMS”)
- Division of Regulated Child Care
- Doe v. Guthrie Clinic
- EHR vendor
- Employer Group Health Plans
- Employer Mandate
- ERISA
- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- False Billings
- Form 4720
- Grace Period
- Group Purchasing Organizations ("GPO")
- Health Professional Shortage Areas (“HPSA”)
- Health Reform
- Home Health Prospective Payment System
- Home Medical Equipment Providers
- Hospitalists
- House Bill 104
- Inpatient Care
- Intermediate Sanctions Agreement
- Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange
- Kentucky House Bill 217
- Licensed practical nurses (LPN)
- Licensure Requirements
- List of Excluded Individuals and Entities
- LLC v. Sutter
- Long-Term Care Providers ("LTC")
- Low-utilization payment adjustment ("LUPA")
- Meaningful use incentives
- Medicare Administrative Coordinators
- Medicare Benefit Policy Manual
- Medicare Shared Saving Program (MSSP)
- Network provider agreement
- Nonprofit hospitals
- Nonroutine medical supplies conversion factor (“NRS”)
- Nurse practitioners (NP)
- Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”)
- Part A
- Part B
- Patient Privacy
- Payors
- Personal Service Entities
- Physician Payments
- Physician Recruitment
- Physician shortages
- Provider Self Disclosure Protocol
- Qualified Health Plan ("QHP")
- Quality reporting
- Registered nurses (RN)
- Residency Programs
- Self-Disclosure Protocol
- Statement of Deficiency ("SOD")
- Trade Association Group Coverage
- Upcoding
- “Superuser”
- Autism/ASD
- Business Associate Agreements
- Business Associates
- Center for Disease Control
- Compliance Programs
- Critical Access Hospitals (“CAHs”)
- Essential Health Benefits (“EHBs”)
- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ("GINA")
- Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
- Kentucky House Bill 159
- Kentucky Primary Care Centers (“PCCs”)
- Managed Care Organizations (“MCOs”)
- Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2012
- Patient Autonomy
- Personal Health Information
- Recovery Audit Contractors (“RAC”)
- Senate Bill 39
- Senate Finance Committee Report
- Small Business Health Options Program (“SHOP”)
- State Medicaid Expansion
- Sunshine Act
- Abuse and Waste
- Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan programs (“CO-OPS”)
- Free Conference Committee Report
- Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program
- House Bill 1
- House Bill 4
- Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services
- Kentucky Health Care Co-Op
- Kentucky Health Cooperative (“KYHC”)
- Kentucky “Pill Mill Bill”
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”)
- Pain Management Facilities
- Employee Agreement
- Health Care Law
- Health Insurance
- Healthcare Regulation
McBrayer Blogs
Showing 7 posts in Hospice.
Updates and Modernization of Kentucky's Assisted Living Legal Framework
Since 2022, Kentucky's assisted living community regulations have undergone significant updates. The recent updates to Kentucky’s assisted living community laws and regulations enhance resident safety and improve the communities that support them. Although Senate Bill (SB) 11 passed in 2022, as is often the case with complex regulatory frameworks, the applicable regulations were promulgated and enacted well into the end of 2023. More >
Tidbits and Takeaways from OIG’s 2016 Work Plan
The Office of Inspector General for Health and Human Services (“OIG”) recently issued its 2016 Work Plan, which sets the agenda for its auditing and investigation in the year ahead. The broad mandate of the OIG is to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse. With the requested FY 2016 budget of $417 million, the OIG will continue its fraud-fighting efforts and heighten it focus on reducing waste in HHS programs. Waste includes not only fraud, but also unnecessary services, inefficient delivery of care or service, poor quality of care or services, inflated prices, excess administrative costs, or mismanagement of grant or contract funds. With a 2015 track record of $3 billion in recoveries; 4,112 provider exclusions from participation in federal health care programs; 925 criminal actions and 682 civil and administrative enforcement actions and a return on investment of $8 for every $1 spent, the OIG is a force to be avoided. The yearly work plan provides a list of priorities for the office, and in turn gives providers insight into areas of concern in practice. The following areas are on OIG’s radar for the coming year: More >
New Part D Regulations Face Increased Scrutiny from Advocacy Groups & Congress
On March 10, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a memorandum to Part D Plan Sponsors and Medicare Hospice Providers entitled, "Part D Payment for Drugs for Beneficiaries Enrolled in Hospice – Final 2014 Guidance" (“Guidance”). The Guidance, effective since May 1, 2014, requires a prior authorization process for Hospice and Part D providers to determine their respective responsibility for drug coverage. The Guidance followed a 2012 OIG report entitled "Medicare Could Be Paying Twice for Prescription Drugs for Beneficiaries in Hospice,” which found that Medicare Hospice patients’ medications were sometimes paid for by Part D rather than by the patient’s Hospice program. More >
Time to “Face” The Risks
In 2011, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”), as part of the reform instituted by the Affordable Care Act, required that home health agencies and hospice patients receive a face-to-face visit (at specified time periods) by a physician or nurse practitioner to ensure that they continue to meet Medicare and Medicaid eligibility criteria. More >
All Eyes on Hospice Care
In 2013, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) charged the nation’s largest for-profit hospice chain, Vitas Innovative Hospice Care (“Vitas”), with false Medicare billings, inappropriately admitting patients with “aggressive marketing tactics,” and misleading patients and families about Medicare hospice benefits. This suit is just one of many recently filed against hospice providers, indicating that they are being watched keenly by enforcement authorities and government agencies. More >
2014 Work Plan for SNFs, Hospice & Home Health Services
If you are a physician and want to know the specific initiatives in the OIG’s 2014 Work Plan applicable to you, check out the post from earlier this week. Today, we will be examining the OIG’s enforcement priorities for skilled nursing facilities (“SNF”), hospice, and home health services. More >
Final Rule for Long-Term Care Facilities and Hospice Providers Becomes Effective August 26th
On June 27, 2013, CMS published its final rule for hospice agreements with long-term care (“LTC”) providers. LTC facilities are now required to have written agreements specifying what services the hospice and LTC provider will provide to nursing home residents receiving hospice care. This new Condition of Participation (CoP) aims to improve the quality and consistency of care between LTC and hospice providers by specifically defining responsibilities and roles. The agreement must be signed by authorized representatives for both the LTC facility and hospice before hospice care can be provided to patients. The effective date is August 26, 2013. More >
