Thomas Coons on Healthcare

HHS Identifies Specific Goals to Move Toward Paying for Quality of Care

On January 26, 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a new initiative to shift Medicare reimbursements from volume to value using new payment methodologies for physicians and hospitals. Such a...more

2/9/2015 / Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) , Fee-for-Service , Healthcare , Hospitals , Medicare , Physician Medicare Reimbursements , Quality of Care Standards

Recent Changes to Stark Law's Whole Hospital Exception

The federal physician self-referral law, or Stark Law, provides a number of exceptions to the law's prohibition of physician referrals of designated health services to an entity in which the physician has an ownership or...more

12/19/2014 / Affordable Care Act , Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) , Healthcare , Hospitals , Patient Referrals , Physician Ownership , Physicians , Stark Law

Providers Challenge CMS's Non-Hospital Rotation Rules for GME and IME

Prior to the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), CMS required hospitals to comply with a number of exacting payment and documentation rules in order to include as part of their graduate medical education (GME) and...more

10/20/2014 / Affordable Care Act , Healthcare , Healthcare Reform , Hospitals

District Court Rejects Hospitals' Challenge to CMS's Rebilling Policy

On September 17, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that it lacked jurisdiction over a challenge brought by the American Hospital Association (AHA) and several hospitals and systems (the...more

10/7/2014 / American Hospital Association , Billing , Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) , Healthcare , Hospitals , Medicare Part B

Overview of the FY 2015 IRF Final Rule

On August 6th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) published an Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) final rule [PDF] in the Federal Register outlining (1) new Medicare payment policies and rates; and (2) guidance...more

8/22/2014 / Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) , Healthcare , Inpatient Quality Reporting , IRF Claim Processing

OIG Determines $4.3 Million Improperly Paid to LTCHs for Interrupted Stays in 2010 and 2011

The OIG issued a report on June 3, 2014 summarizing its findings concerning the vulnerabilities and enforcement of Medicare’s interrupted-stay policy for long-term care hospitals (LTCHs). Beneficiaries in LTCHs tend to have...more

7/28/2014 / Healthcare , Hospitals , Long Term Care Facilities , Long-Term Care , OIG

Medicare's LTCH Moratorium - CMS Issues Instructions and Proposed Regulation

From the early 1980s until the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the number of long-term acute care hospitals (LTCHs) expanded many fold. Addressing this growth, Congress, in enacting the Medicare, Medicaid and...more

6/6/2014 / Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) , Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) , Healthcare , Healthcare Reform , Hospitals , Long Term Care Facilities , Medicaid , Medicare

Proposed 2015 IPPS Rule Contains Many Changes to GME and IME Rules

Each year when CMS publishes its proposed changes to the IPPS Rule, it suggests a number of graduate medical education (GME) and indirect medical education (IME) reforms. This year has been no different. As part of the IPPS...more

5/22/2014 / Affordable Care Act , Census , Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) , GME , Healthcare , Hospitals , Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) , Long Term Care Facilities , Medicare , Proposed Regulation

CMS Publishes Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) FY 2015 Proposed Rule

On April 30, 2014, CMS posted its proposed changes and updates to the Medicare IPPS [PDF] that would apply beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2015. Comments are due by June 30, 2014. Below is a summary of the major changes to the...more

5/19/2014 / Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) , Healthcare , Hospitals , Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) , Long Term Care Facilities , Medicare , Proposed Regulation , Provider Payments , Public Comment

Highlights of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014

On the first of this month, President Obama signed into law the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014. The measure extends a multitude of provisions that were set to expire and also incorporates many provisions that may...more

4/28/2014 / Healthcare , Healthcare Reform , Medicare , Protecting Access to Medicare Act

Providers Win Significant Victory in DSH Part C Days Appeal

As we discussed in a Payment Matters article dated December 13, 2012, providers have enjoyed repeated success in challenging the Secretary’s position regarding Medicare Part C days and where those days belong in the Medicare...more

4/25/2014 / DSH , Healthcare , Medicare , Medicare Part C

Providers Lose DSH GA Day Challenge

As we reported in a Payment Matters article dated April 18, 2013, in Nazareth Hosp. et al. v. Sebelius (“Nazareth”), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania overturned CMS’s rejection of...more

4/24/2014 / DSH , Healthcare , Hospitals , Medicare

"Incident To" Personnel and Credentials: CMS's New Teeth to Address an Old Problem

Medicare’s “incident to” provision found at 42 U.S.C. § 1395x(s)(2)(A) addresses coverage of services and supplies furnished “incident to a physician’s professional service,” principally in a physician’s office or clinic....more

1/24/2014 / Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) , Compliance , Healthcare , Hospitals , Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) , Medicare

SGR-Driven Payment Reduction Postponed Again

As part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA), Congress enacted a number of payment reforms designed to curb the growth of expenditures under Medicare Part B. One of the more notable of those provisions was the Sustainable...more

1/8/2014 / Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) , Health Care Providers , Healthcare , Medicare , Medicare Part B , Physician SGR Formula , Physicians

IPPS Final Rule: CMS Addresses Allina Decision and Addresses New Medicare DSH Payment Calculations

In the fiscal year 2014 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rule published in the Federal Register on August 19, 2013, CMS took two steps of note regarding the Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH)...more

8/28/2013 / Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) , Disproportionate Share Adjustments , Healthcare , Hospitals , Medical Expenses , Medicare , Payment Plans

CMS's Use of Contractors to Determine "Sustained or High Level of Payment Errors" Upheld

In a decision handed down on July 23, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the use by CMS of outside contractors to determine whether a home health agency’s reimbursement claims had exhibited a...more

8/9/2013 / Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) , Contractors , Healthcare , Home Health Care , Medicare , Overpayment , Reimbursements

CMS Proposes Significant Changes and Clarifications in OPPS Proposed Rule

In its OPPS proposed rule published July 19, 2013 [PDF], at Fed. Reg. 43534-43707, CMS proposed significant changes and clarifications to its current policy. Among the most notable changes are the four discussed below...more

7/24/2013 / Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) , Healthcare , Hospitals , Medicaid , Medicare , Physicians

Court of Appeals Hands Down Significant DSH Ruling

As we reported in a Payment Matters article dated February 16, 2012, early last year the United States District Court for the District of Columbia handed providers a significant victory in Catholic Health Initiatives-Iowa v....more

6/28/2013 / Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) , DSH , Healthcare , Medicaid , Medicare

Thomas Coons

Baker Donelson

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