News

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) today released updated Five-Star quality ratings for care centers. Beginning with this month’s update, all three domains (Survey, Staffing, and Quality) will again operate as they did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. All care centers should review the new ratings posted at Medicare Care Compare. As described in this revised Technical Users’ Guide, updates to the specific domains are as follows:

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced the following new quality and Minimum Data Set (MDS) web-based training content for skilled nursing facilities and Medicare home health providers:

On January 11, HUD announced its competition for $150 million in new Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly funds. The application deadline for these funds is May 26, 2021.

The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is similar in many ways to the last HUD Section 202 NOFO issued in April 2019. That NOFO was for $51 million and ultimately provided Section 202 Capital Advance and Project Rental Assistance Contract (PRAC) funding for 575 units via 18 nonprofit-controlled communities when the awards were announced in February 2020.

A key part of the December 2020 COVID-19 relief bill is a renewal of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), including availability of second draw loans for some organizations that got a PPP loan earlier this year. In January 2021, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Treasury issued rulemaking to implement the second draw loan program. Organizations that received a PPP loan earlier this year are eligible to receive a second forgivable loan of up to $2 million if they meet eligibility criteria. The loan application portal is expected to open this week. As with the first round, eligible organizations can apply through most local or national banks.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued the 2020 update to the National Plan to address Alzheimer’s Disease. There have been updates yearly since this report was originally published in 2012. A complete list of the National Plan and updates, as well as an Action Side-by-Side, is available, as is more information about the National Alzheimer's Project Act .

This week, HUD issued a new set of Q&As for Multifamily Housing providers, including senior housing, last updated in mid-October. While the Q&A addresses vaccines, PPP loans, and residual receipts, it falls short of addressing several pressing questions. With affordable housing communities bracing for continued COVID-19 surges, the Q&A provides little direction for housing owners and staff navigating COVID-19 vaccines and testing, as well as ongoing unbudgeted expenses and operational challenges.

Included in the passage of the 5,593 page COVID-19 relief and FY21 appropriations bills package is H.R. 1690, which requires HUD- and USDA-subsidized housing to have carbon monoxide alarms in units that have combustion-fueled appliances or a ventilation system that connects them to such units.

(HUD) research arm released the first of three evaluation reports of the Integrated Wellness in Supportive Housing (IWISH) demonstration program, which funds a full-time resident wellness director and part-time wellness nurse to work in HUD-assisted housing communities serving older adults. Launched in 2017, the three-year demonstration program aims to determine whether a well-funded, planned model of supportive services coordination in HUD-assisted senior housing provides compelling benefits.

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has issued a disaster preparedness toolkit for multifamily housing. Announced yesterday, the disaster preparedness “business continuity” toolkit for multifamily housing providers is now available.  HUD will also be hosting a webinar on Thursday, Dec. 10, from 12:30-2 pm CST to share information on the new resource.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced (QSO-21-06-NH) on December 4 that the Five Star Quality Rating system will resume all updates with the January 2021 refresh. Due to the public health emergency (PHE) first issued in March 2020, the 3 domains of the rating system had previously been held constant at varying times throughout the past 9 months as a result of changes to health inspections and certain temporary regulatory waivers. During this time, CMS also unveiled the new Care Compare site, which officially replaced all legacy sites, including Nursing Home Compare, on December 1, 2020. Complete updates to the Five Star Quality Rating system will be available at the new Care Compare site on January 27, 2021.

On November 23^rd, HUD announced the continued availability of supplemental funds for HUD-assisted multifamily housing providers responding to COVID-19. In July, HUD announced the initial request period for COVID-19 Supplemental Payments. The new HUD notice establishes a second request window and updates the submission requirements.

In early September the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched Care Compare, a streamlined redesign of eight existing CMS healthcare compare tools. The goal of this work was to allow consumers to access Nursing Home Compare, Hospice Compare, Home Health Compare, etc. all in the same location.

Some Minnesota providers have experienced issues with timely and approved VA payments and there may be some options available. VA and its third-party administrators (TPA), Optum and TriWest, will reconsider payment to providers who had a claim denied for simple routing errors.

On November 6, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2021 premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance amounts for the Medicare Part A and Part B programs. 

HUD staff will join the regular LeadingAge Housing Advisory Group call on Monday, October 26, to share more updates about Service Coordinators, including payment and grant extension updates.

HUD has posted an updated version of the RAD PBRA Quick Reference Guide to reflect program changes and frequently asked questions.

Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) published an interim final rule that changes how prevailing wages are calculated, which has an immediate impact on foreign workers in the H1B, H1B1, and E-3 programs.

Effective October 1 of this year, a new federal rule requires the submission of all documentation to Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) through an electronic submission method.

Under CMS emergency preparedness regulations, nursing facilities are required to conduct two emergency preparedness testing exercises annually.

Based on the annual SNF Payment Rule which CMS released earlier this summer, new SNF Medicare rates for the second year of the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) take effect on October 1.