The Health Law Firm Blog

APRIL 15, 2024

Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law and Hartley Brooks, Law Clerk, The Health Law Firm On February 1, 2024, the District Court for the Southern District of Florida announced that Florida nursing home mogul Phillip Esformes had reached a plea deal on pending conspiracy [.] Indest III, J.D.,

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Nursing Homes Nurses Fraud Medicare 52

The Health Law Firm Blog

MARCH 25, 2024

Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law and Hartley Brooks, Law Clerk, The Health Law Firm On February 1, 2024, the District Court for the Southern District of Florida announced that Florida nursing home mogul Phillip Esformes had reached a plea deal on pending conspiracy [.] Indest III, J.D.,

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Nursing Homes Nurses Fraud Medicare 52

The Health Law Firm Blog

MARCH 4, 2024

Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law and Hartley Brooks, Law Clerk, The Health Law Firm On February 1, 2024, the District Court for the Southern District of Florida announced that Florida nursing home mogul Phillip Esformes had reached a plea deal on pending conspiracy [.] Indest III, J.D.,

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Nursing Homes Nurses Fraud Medicare 52

Healthicity

APRIL 2, 2024

The selected items relate to (1) nursing homes and (2) medications. March was a busy month for new additions to the OIG’s Work Plan. Some of the items fit nicely into two broad categories which we’ve grouped together and summarized below.

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Nursing Homes Nurses Fraud Compliance 52

Hall Render

MARCH 4, 2025

On November 20, 2024, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued new Industry Segment-Specific Compliance Program Guidance For Nursing Facilities (Nursing Facility ICPG) for nursing home members of the health care compliance community.

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Modern Healthcare

JULY 3, 2023

Nursing homes, rehab providers and psychiatric hospitals urged the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to account for economic conditions in fiscal 2024 rates

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Hall Render

OCTOBER 28, 2024

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) is reinforcing regulatory expectations regarding nursing home residents’ rights to vote. On September 26, 2024, CMS issued a QSO Memo , “Compliance with Residents’ Rights requirement related to Nursing Home Residents’ Right to Vote.” 42 CFR §483.10(b)(1)

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Hall Render

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

On November 18, 2024, the Quality, Safety & Oversight Group at CMS issued a memorandum entitled REVISED: Revised Long-Term Care (LTC) Surveyor Guidance: Significant revisions to enhance quality and oversight of the LTC survey process (New Surveyor Guidance Memo).

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Hanys

NOVEMBER 8, 2024

13 Fall 2024 HIM user group meeting Nov. 14 Nursing home back-to-basics series: Site visit readiness Nov. Standing membership call on state and federal issues Nov. 12 Age-Friendly Health Systems Action Community recruitment webinar Nov. 18 Post-acute and continuing care quarterly meeting Nov.

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Verisys

JULY 25, 2024

June 2024 Bad Actor Roundup By Verisys Each month we will give a roundup of recent healthcare fraudsters and compliance busters. Million to Settle Allegations Related to Telehealth Services for Nursing Home Residents ( Full Story ) Chronic Disease Management Provider to Pay $14.9M

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Fraud Nursing Homes COVID-19 Licensing 52

Verisys

JULY 25, 2024

June 2024 Bad Actor Roundup By Verisys Each month we will give a roundup of recent healthcare fraudsters and compliance busters. Million to Settle Allegations Related to Telehealth Services for Nursing Home Residents ( Full Story ) Chronic Disease Management Provider to Pay $14.9M

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Fraud Nursing Homes COVID-19 Licensing 52

Verisys

JULY 25, 2024

June 2024 Bad Actor Roundup By Verisys Each month we will give a roundup of recent healthcare fraudsters and compliance busters. Million to Settle Allegations Related to Telehealth Services for Nursing Home Residents ( Full Story ) Chronic Disease Management Provider to Pay $14.9M

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Fraud Nursing Homes COVID-19 Licensing 52

Hall Render

FEBRUARY 4, 2025

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has given surveyors new rules and updates to allow surveyors to add extra attention and increase oversight in nursing homes regarding the role of the medical director and how mental disorders are diagnosed.

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Nursing Homes Nurses Compliance Medicaid 52

Hall Render

MAY 2, 2023

For this alert, “nursing homes” refers to skilled nursing facilities (often known as “SNFs”). In 2020, CMS revised the nursing home infection control regulations at 42 CFR § 483.80 The CMS Memo confirms that this requirement will remain in effect until May 21, 2024 unless additional regulatory action is taken.

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Jane Sarashon

JANUARY 13, 2025

Thereafter, the average declined each year through 2023, when it reached 30%, and it held there in 2024. Trust for other health industry professions including day care providers, pharmacists, and nursing home operators, had buoyed in years one and two of the pandemic, but in 2025 have fallen below pre-pandemic ratings.

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Hanys

OCTOBER 4, 2024

This week the governor signed the following bills of interest into law: Nursing home ratings – Chapter 336 of the Laws of 2024 Health insurance enrollment for pregnant individuals – Chapter 420 of the Laws of 2024 Physical copies of patient information – Chapter 347 of the Laws of 2024 Breast cancer screening coverage – Chapter (..)

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Hanys

OCTOBER 25, 2024

Nursing home Quality Assurance Performance Improvement and root cause analysis process Oct. 31 Nursing home back-to-basics series: Site visit readiness Nov. 13 Fall 2024 HIM user group meeting Nov. 14 Nursing home Quality Assurance Performance Improvement and root cause analysis process Oct.

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Compliancy Group

APRIL 17, 2024

Focus Areas for 2024 The OIG’s General Compliance Program Guidance (GCPG) establishes industry-specific compliance program guidance (ICPG) for 2024 that focuses on forms of fraud, waste, and abuse specific to certain types of suppliers, providers, and entities like nursing homes, clinical laboratories, and hospitals.

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Jane Sarashon

DECEMBER 18, 2023

Note that 8 in 10 consumers rate nurses excellent/good compared with 7 in 10 people ranking physicians this way, 6 in 10 for hospitals, 5 in 10 for telemedicine/virtual visits, and just under 5 in 10 for hospital emergency departments. In the “you always hurt the ones you love” mode, 2024 should be the year that U.S.

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Provider Trust

JANUARY 25, 2024

Though HHS has made efforts to address the challenges outlined in this year’s report, there are still many opportunities for improvement in 2024. We’ve broken down the report’s primary themes and how they affect healthcare organizations moving forward in 2024.

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Hanys

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

We're telling legislators to stabilize New York's hospitals and nursing homes and protect New Yorkers' access to care. Our new fact sheets explain why the final SFY 2024-2025 budget must: Close the Medicaid gap. Reject Medicaid cuts. Provide low- and no-cost relief.

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Hall Render

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

Welltower has selected Integra Healthcare Properties, a newly-formed company with a 29-year-old CEO, to manage 147 nursing homes in 15 states. Integra will lease the nursing homes from Welltower and then sublet them to regional operators. million in affordable housing in Bel Aire, Kansas. million ASC in North Carolina.

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Hanys

JUNE 14, 2024

The following bills of interest passed both houses recently: Nursing home closures (A.3703/S.2984) 8966-A) Hospital-home care-physician collaboration program (A.9204/S.9049) 7840) Please see our summary chart for a complete list of bills of interest that passed both houses during the 2024 legislative session.

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Hall Render

DECEMBER 20, 2023

S&P Global Ratings published a sector view report indicating the agency expects a constrained operating environment in 2024 largely due to persistently high labor and operating costs. Medicaid funding changes are also accelerating the move from nursing homes to home and community-based services.

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MedTrainer

AUGUST 8, 2024

As of March 2024, over 67 million in the United States are Medicare beneficiaries. CMS and subject matter experts created the Hand in Hand in-service training for nurse aides to meet this requirement. Though Hand in Hand is targeted at nurse aides, it may be valuable to all nursing home caregivers, administrative staff, and surveyors.

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Compliancy Group

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) released an updated Nursing Facility Industry Compliance Program Guidance (ICPG) in November 2024 to assist nursing facilities in navigating the complex regulatory landscape and mitigating compliance risks.

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Healthcare IT Today

JULY 30, 2023

The deal only appears to involve the trade show – next slated for March 11-15, 2024 in Orlando – and makes no mention of smaller HIMSS events (in-person or online) or the Healthcare IT News or MobiHealthNews publications that HIMSS Media owns. News HIMSS is planning to sell its annual conference to Informa.

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Hall Render

DECEMBER 12, 2024

Over the past nine years, over 800 nursing homes have closed across the country according to new data. One company in Connecticut is carving out a niche by converting vacant nursing homes into market-rate housing. Hilltop Securities released its 2024 High Yield Impact Survey.

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AIHC

DECEMBER 10, 2024

Read Part 1: Building a Culture of Patient Safety Starts with Reducing Staff Burnout posted December 3, 2024. New Dashboard to Track Progress On December 5, 2024, the National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety (NAA) at the U.S. Support research to address high-priority needs in patient and workforce safety.

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Hall Render

OCTOBER 11, 2024

Twenty states and 19 nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit against HHS and CMS over recent nursing home minimum staffing mandates. The plaintiffs allege the final rule “poses an existential threat” to the nursing home industry. The median operating margin reported by Kaufman Hall for August 2024 was 4.2%.

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Hall Render

DECEMBER 8, 2023

A recent report on medical office trends for 2024 indicated that, while interest rates may help stabilize the financing environment for the health care real estate sector, the labor environment may continue to be challenging. Some are predicting a rise in mental healthcare clinic deals in 2024.

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Hall Render

DECEMBER 1, 2023

CommonSpirit Health has closed on a $5M impact investment to support an affordable housing community in San Francisco called Freedom West Homes. Becker’s published a summary of how health system executives plan to cut expenses in 2024. Common themes include: 1. Reduce real estate expenses through portfolio optimization, 2. for $198M.

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Healthcare IT Today

DECEMBER 15, 2023

In 2024, I expect innovation to accelerate in a few key areas: AI empowerment: AI will be transformative for radiology, but we’re still years away from widespread use of AI-trained diagnostics algorithms or many other purely clinical applications. Evan Ruff, Co-Founder and CEO at OXOS Medical Digital imaging is at an inflection point.

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Hall Render

AUGUST 4, 2023

CMS issued a final rule that will increase payments to SNFs by 4%, or $1.4B, starting in 2024. CMS described the increase as a “parity adjustment recalibration,” noting that it had previously overestimated overpayments to nursing homes, which resulted in an unintended reduction in reimbursement in 2023.

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Healthcare Law Blog

JUNE 22, 2023

Under the Act, any such clause in a health care contract, written policy, written procedure or agreement entered into, renewed or amended on or after July 1, 2024 will be considered null and void. If such fees are collected after July 1, 2024, OHS will have enforcement discretion to charge civil penalties of up to $1,000 for each violation.

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Hall Render

JANUARY 10, 2025

In 2024, North Florida saw a surge in the construction of freestanding emergency departments (“EDs”) by various health care systems, driven by regional population growth. The HHS OIG has recommended that CMS enhance its review of nursing homes’ related-party cost reporting.

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Hall Render

OCTOBER 18, 2024

Nursing home REITs anticipate rising deal volume in the sector as occupancy rates improve and reliance on agency labor has decreased. As of Q3 2024 , senior living transactions totaled 700, up 25% from 2022, and spending reached $2.96B, up 243% year-over-year.

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