Impact of the Federal Government Shutdown for CMS
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it is still assessing the impact of the partial government shutdown. There are several issues that will impact home care and nursing home members.
CMS Survey and Certification letter, S&C 14-04, responds to a series of questions CMS received from providers and states regarding the federal government shutdown which lasted from Oct. 1 through Oct 16. The guidance provides information on the effective start date and end date of the imposition of certain federal remedies, and leaves unchanged the requirement that remedies are imposed 90 days following the survey exit date when correction has not taken place. States are being advised to use the exit date to calculate all 90-day remedial actions even though a statement of deficiencies would not have been issued timely due to the shutdown.
CMS is also working on the completion of calendar year 2014 Medicare fee for service payment regulations, and intends to issue the final rules on or before Nov. 27, 2013, generally to be effective on Jan. 1, 2014. Impacted regulations include:
- CY 2014 Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) Final Rule (CMS-1450-F);
- Medicare Program; End-Stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System, Quality Incentive Program, and Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies (CMS-1526-F);
- CY 2014 Changes to the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System (CMS-1601-FC); and
- Revisions to Payment Policies under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2014 Final Rule with Comment Period (CMS-1600-FC).
The HH PPS was posted in the Federal Register on July 27, comments were due in August and the final rule was scheduled to be published by Nov. 1.
Once the final HH PPS rule is published, LeadingAge New York will provide an in-depth analysis.
Contact; Cheryl Udell, cudell@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871, or Elliott Frost, efrost@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8832