Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Just this morning (Wednesday, July 6, 2022), CMS posted QSO-22-20-Hospitals with the same title as this blog. On September 30, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the final rule Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Regulatory Provisions to Promote Program Efficiency, Transparency, and…… Continue reading Hospitals: Infection Prevention and Control and Antibiotic Stewardship Program Interpretive Guidance Update 

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The national Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control (HCFAC) Program is celebrating its 25th year of operation and continued success in identifying and prosecuting the most egregious instances of health care fraud, preventing future fraud and abuse, and protecting program beneficiaries. The HCFAC Program is…… Continue reading Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program Fiscal Year 2021 Report

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare You are invited to attend a safety science orientation session by Collaborative Safety, LLC, to learn about opportunities for providers, stakeholders, policy makers and the public to identify the influences that cause violations in healthcare settings and discover ways to holistically address issues throughout the…… Continue reading Learn about Collaborative Safety, Opportunities to Review Incidents, Identify the Influences That Lead to Incidents  

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Rural Emergency Hospitals (REHs) are a new provider type established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 to address the growing concern over closures of rural hospitals. The REH designation provides an opportunity for Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and certain rural hospitals to avert potential…… Continue reading CMS Action to Expand Access to Emergency Care Services in Rural Communities  

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Office of the National Coordinator, (ONC) for Health Information Technology (HIT) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is currently conducting a national phone-based survey to better understand the state of health IT use and interoperability among skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and…… Continue reading SNFs & Hospices: Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) Phone-Based Survey

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare MedPAC released its June 2022 Annual Report to Congress on Wednesday, June 15, 2022.  The 3-page Press Release is found here. The full report is found on the MedPAC website; the direct link to the 267-page report is here. It’s always interesting to read the Commission’s…… Continue reading June 2022 MedPAC Report to Congress: Medicare and the HC Delivery System

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Provider Preview Reports have been updated and are now available. These reports contain provider performance scores for quality measures, which will be published on Care Compare and Provider Data Catalog (PDC) during the September 2022 release. Please note that historically, in any given calendar…… Continue reading LTCH Provider Preview Reports and LCDS Quarterly Q&As Now Available 

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) Provider Preview Reports have been updated and are now available. These reports contain provider performance scores for quality measures, which will be published on Care Compare and Provider Data Catalog (PDC) during the September 2022 release. Please note that historically, in any given…… Continue reading IRF Provider Preview Reports and IRF-PAI Quarterly Q&As Now Available  

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare “World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD), observed each year on June 15th, serves as a call-to-action for our communities to raise awareness about abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elders, and reaffirm our commitment to the principle of justice for all. Elder abuse is widespread. Every…… Continue reading World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare (On June 13, 2022), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Office for Civil Rights (OCR), (issued) guidance on how covered health care providers and health plans can use remote communication technologies to provide audio-only telehealth services when such communications are conducted…… Continue reading HHS Issues Guidance on HIPAA and Audio-Only Telehealth