News

The White House and Congress reached a deal to raise the federal budget caps for fiscal years 2020 and 2021.  

Do you understand the Value-Based Purchasing Performance Score Card? Are you interested in results from payment year one? Join the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for a call on Tuesday, Aug. 27 from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. for a high-level summary of the program and a review of the FY2019 program year.   

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has provided clarifications to questions about the heightened scrutiny process for newly-constructed presumptively institutional settings. The information can be found in the Informational Bulletin issued last week. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that property owners/agents and Public Housing Authorities across the country can pre-register one or more of their properties to be considered for selection in the demonstration to develop and test a new format for conducting the physical inspection of HUD-subsidized properties. 

LeadingAge has been informed by HUD officials that 202 PRAC funding availability is very tight right now and will remain so for the remainder of FY19.  

LeadingAge is supporting a bill that would nearly double the number of employment visas granted annually and increase access to qualified health care workers. 

A proposed rule announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on July 23 would change eligibility rules for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and lower the number of older adults eligible for SNAP benefits.  

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee held a hearing yesterday on the latest report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Improved Oversight Needed to Better Protect Residents from Abuse. The report states that abuse deficiencies cited in nursing homes have more than doubled between 2013 and 2017.  

Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) identified as not meeting the 80% reporting threshold under the Quality Reporting Program (QRP) recently received a letter from National Government Services, the Medicare contract agency for Minnesota, informing them that they will be subject to a 2% reduction on their Medicare fee-for-service rates beginning Oct. 1, 2019. If you received this letter, you have the opportunity to request reconsideration by Aug. 15.  

A new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University found that housing production is not keeping pace with the nation’s growth of households, which is creating higher housing costs and increased housing affordability struggles for low- and moderate-income households.  

A report published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) discusses serious care deficiencies found in hospice services and the shortcomings in federal regulation and oversight to prevent these kinds of harm to beneficiaries.  

The final countdown to Phase 3 of the Requirements of Participation that take effect Nov. 28 has begun. These requirements, among other changes, mandate that every care center have a designated and specially trained Infection Preventionist running a comprehensive infection prevention and control program. Are you prepared? 

President Donald Trump signed two Executive Orders last month that will interest LeadingAge members. The first is focused on reducing and removing regulatory burdens that raise the cost of housing development. The second relates to price transparency in health care, but does not apply to aging services providers.  

Registration is open for a two-day Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Train-the-Trainer event for providers on Aug.13 and 14. The training, which is primarily intended for those responsible for training staff at care centers, includes:   

A new proposed rule from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks to eliminate nondiscrimination protections in health care and aging services settings for LGBT people and those with limited English proficiency. LeadingAge Minnesota opposes the proposed rule’s removal of these protections.  

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is shifting the way in which it works with community providers to expand the provider network and improve customer service for veterans and timeliness of payment for providers. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is continuing its effort to improve how states monitor health and welfare in Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS). This effort, which includes technical assistance to select states, is part of the federal government’s overall health care fraud and abuse control program that was featured in a recent report.   

The House passed its first fiscal year 2020 appropriations bills last week. The $985 billion package includes funding for Older Americans Act (OAA) programs that will help millions of low-income seniors and people with disabilities.  

In a response to a request for comments on how the federal government measures poverty, LeadingAge provided insight on how potential changes to the poverty threshold’s calculation could negatively impact older adults and aging services. 

Congress is getting down to business and moving funding and policy issues that impact aging services providers.