News

On March 28, US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee to discuss the President’s FY24 budget proposal. Top aging services issues were discussed, such as the Three-Day Hospital Stay Requirement, Nursing Home Mandatory Staffing Ratios, and Home and Community Based Services (HCBS).

During National Patient Safety Awareness Week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) highlighted their renewed focus on patient safety because harm is still too common and often preventable in a blog published on its website. Progress in patient safety has significantly declined since the beginning of the pandemic erasing previous patient safety gains.

On March 9, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the Annual Adjustment Factors (AAFs) for 2023, which adjusts rents for certain Section 8 housing assistance payment programs.

This past week Argentum held its annual Public Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.  The public policy event started on Monday afternoon and culminated with staff advocacy visits with Congressional officials in both the U.S. Senate and House on Wednesday.

A bill introduced by US Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chair Jon Tester (D-MT), along with Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Mike Rounds (R-SD) to add assisted living services to veterans benefits.

Following two years of advocacy from LeadingAge, our national partner, on behalf of affordable senior housing communities, a raft of supportive services for older adults can now be more easily accessed and funded with the publication of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) guidance last month.

On Feb. 10, US Senate Special Committee on Aging Chairman Bob Casey (DFL-PA) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (DFL-OR) sent a multi-member letter to CMS regarding upcoming regulations to create a minimum staffing standard.

Continuing with its desire to strengthen its ability to examine nursing home ownership types, including private equity and real estate investment trusts, on Feb. 13, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule to gather such data.

On Feb. 10, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued Admin Info memoranda 23-06-NH revising guidance to Chapter 5 of the State Operations Manual (SOM).  The memo’s revisions include changes to the maximum timeframes for state survey agency (SA) investigations into complaints and facility-reported incidents, and the expansion of SA’s data entry requirements into the federal ASPEN Complaints/Incidents Tracking System (ACTS).

On Dec. 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP) into law.

On Tuesday, LeadingAge released its “Get Real on Ratios” effort to advocate for a realistic federal minimum staffing requirement reflecting the reality of current staffing and funding crises.

On Jan. 31, HUD posted a preview version of its final rule implementing the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA), which Congress enacted in 2016. HOTMA was a bipartisan bill that sought to streamline aspects of HUD’s rental assistance programs, including by making changes to resident income calculations and reviews.

As more providers continue to look at applying for an Employee Retention Credit (ERC), LeadingAge, our national partner, has developed a Frequently Asked Questions document that covers issues around eligibility and applying for those funds. 

The Veterans' Administration (VA) released new rates for CY 2023 that are effective for care delivered on and after Feb. 1. Nationally, adult day services (ADS) rates increased by 7%, then adjusted by the location's wage index. In about ten locations, VA medical centers (VAMC) asked the VA to freeze CY 2022 rates for CY 2023, and these requests were approved; most of the locations were in Northern California.

According to recent news from the White House, the federal Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division's proposed overtime rule will now be published in May. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was initially slated for April 2022 but then delayed to October that year. The May goal represents a second delay.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tasked its Vaccine and other Related Biologicals Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) to review proposals related to COVID-19 vaccines. Items scheduled for review include changing the primary vaccine doses to the bivalent vaccine and whether the composition and schedule for booster doses should be adjusted.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released tools to assist nursing homes in implementing enhanced barrier precautions. The resources include an EBP webinar and PowerPoint handout, an EBP pre-implementation tool, an observation tool, an observation tool summary, and several different letter templates, all available on the website.

A recent federal court case regarding a wrongful death claim is a good reminder for all providers: check the expiration dates on your insurance policies.

Changes to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) civil penalty amounts based on cost-of-living adjustments for 2023 went into effect on Jan. 17.

On Jan. 17, CMS survey staff leaders notified our national partners at LeadingAge that they are automating parts of the process for creating and sending letters to nursing homes for imposed Civil Monetary Penalties (CMPs). There is no underlying CMP policy change being made.