Federal Regulation Freeze Affects CHHA Conditions of Participation
The Trump administration instituted a regulatory freeze on Jan. 20th that, among other actions, temporarily postpones regulations and guidance that have been adopted, but have not yet taken effect. This delay affects several Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) final rules, including regulations governing the Conditions of Participation for home health agencies, the use of new or increased pass-through payments in Medicaid managed care, and the new mandatory bundled payments for cardiac care and joint replacement.
The Jan. 20th memorandum asks federal agencies to freeze regulations and guidance so that the new president's appointees have an opportunity to review them. With respect to regulations that have been published but have not taken effect, agencies are asked to postpone their effective date for 60 days from the date of the memorandum announcing the freeze (i.e., until March 21, 2017). Agencies are instructed, where appropriate and permissible, to consider proposing with notice and comment a further delay in the effective date beyond the 60-day period. Following the delay in the effective date:
- For regulations that raise no substantial questions of law or policy, no further action needs to be taken; and
- For those regulations that raise substantial questions of law or policy, agencies should notify the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and take further appropriate action in consultation with the OMB Director.
It is not clear whether a notice-and-comment process is necessary to delay final regulations that are not yet in effect.
The regulatory freeze has created a great deal of uncertainty for providers that must decide whether to invest resources to come into compliance with final regulations that may be further delayed or modified. LeadingAge NY will keep members apprised of updates on the status of significant regulations as information becomes available.
Contacts: Cheryl Udell, cudell@leadingageny.org, and Karen Lipson, klipson@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8383