In March 2020, Congress passed the CARES Act to provide relief for Americans during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic. Part of the CARES Act included an expansion of the Advanced and Accelerated Payments Programs. The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) stated that this expansion would go on…
On September 2, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized fiscal year (FY) 2021 policies in the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) for acute care and long-term care hospitals. The rule safeguards access to critical diagnostic technology and medical treatments through increasing technological innovation in the medical…
On September 1, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced that Assisted Living Facilities (“ALFs”) are now eligible to apply for payments under the Provider Relief Fund (“PRF”). ALFs have until September 13, 2020 to begin the application process. The PRF is a multi-billion-dollar fund created by…
One of the questions surrounding loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) was whether forgiveness of these loans would be offset against expenses and used to decrease future Medicare reimbursement. PPP loans were created under the CARES Act and are administered by the Small Business Administration (“SBA”). They were intended…
On August 31, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released an announcement regarding their newest proposed rule, the Medicare Coverage of Innovative Technology (“MCIT”). Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Secretary Alex Azar assured that the proposed rule “would give Medicare beneficiaries faster access to the…
The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) is setting up a new reporting system through which recipients of payments under the Provider Relief Fund (“PRF”) will be required to submit reports on their use of the payments. The reporting system is set to become available for reporting on October…
During the COVID-19 crisis, many audits by private payors had been paused, but as of the last week, it seems that private payors have resumed auditing. Specifically, Wachler & Associates is aware of private payers initiating audits of laboratories. The laboratories being audited are seemingly ones doing COVID-19 GenX tests,…
Despite the ongoing public health emergency from the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (“COVID-19” or “COVID”), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) were encouraged by the Center for Program Integrity (“CPI”) to resume conducting Recovery Audit Contractor (“RAC”) and Medicare Administrative Contractor (“MAC”) audits. Some of the audits that are…
Throughout the onset of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a variety of temporary waivers that expanded reimbursement under Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP for telehealth services. Allowing reimbursement for telehealth encourages patients to reduce the amount of in-person medical encounters, which…
On July 31, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced that it would be reopening the application for providers who did not originally receive funds from the $50 billion general distribution of the Provider Relief Fund (“PRF”). The PRF was created in response to the 2019 Novel…