CMS Releases Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice For Public Comment – CMS announced that the public has the opportunity to comment on the Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice (MOON). The MOON is a standardized form developed by CMS to facilitate implementation of the Notice of Observation Treatment and Implication for Care Eligibility Act (Notice Act) requirements.  The comment period on the MOON ends September 1, 2016.  More information is available here.

OMB Reviewing Nursing Home Medicare Eligibility Rule and Gainsharing Rule – According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) website reginfo.gov, the White House recently started reviewing (1) CMS’s rule covering Medicare eligibility requirements for nursing homes and (2) HHS Office of Inspector General’s rule that would amend the anti-kickback statute safe harbors on gainsharing arrangements.  The nursing home proposed rule, released in July 2015, has stirred contentious discussion regarding the ability of nursing home operators to use arbitration agreements with their residents.  Read more regarding CMS’s nursing home eligibility proposals in the King & Spalding Health Headline available here.  More information regarding the OIG’s safe harbor proposals published in 2014 is available in a prior King & Spalding Health Headline here.