Thousands Died At Nursing Homes Certified By Medicare For Infection Controls
Inspections conducted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the early part of the pandemic cleared 8 out of 10 nursing homes of infection-control violations, The Washington Post reports.
The Washington Post:
As Pandemic Raged And Thousands Died, Government Regulators Cleared Most Nursing Homes Of Infection-Control Violations
Government inspectors deployed by [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] during the first six months of the crisis cleared nearly 8 in 10 nursing homes of any infection-control violations even as the deadliest pandemic to strike the United States in a century sickened and killed thousands, a Washington Post investigation found. Those cleared included homes with mounting coronavirus outbreaks before or during the inspections, as well as those that saw cases and deaths spiral upward after inspectors reported no violations had been found, in some cases multiple times. All told, homes that received a clean bill of health earlier this year had about 290,000 coronavirus cases and 43,000 deaths among residents and staff, state and federal data shows. (Cenziper, Jacobs and Mulcahy, 10/29)
In other news about Medicare and Medicaid —
Modern Healthcare:
CMS Makes Telehealth Permanent For Home Health
CMS on Thursday made permanent changes to telehealth flexibilities for home health providers. In its home health payment rule for 2021, the agency signed off on changes to allow providers to use telehealth for related skilled services if they're outlined in a patient's care plan. It also requires provides to describe how telehealth would improve treatment in a patient's medical record. CMS bumped pay for home health providers by 1.9%, or about $390 million. (Brady, 10/29)
Modern Healthcare:
Health Centers Sue To Protect 340B Savings From California Drug-Pricing Plan
Community health centers in California on Thursday sued to stop the state from absorbing health centers' 340B drug discount program savings under Gov. Gavin Newsom's bulk drug-purchasing plan. Newsom has advanced a plan that would transition the state's drug purchasing from Medicaid managed care to fee-for-service, which he thinks will consolidate the state's negotiating leverage and help lower prescription drug costs. But community health centers say they would lose 340B savings that they use to sustain their operations. The changes are scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1. (Cohrs, 10/29)
Modern Healthcare:
Flood Of Medicaid Redeterminations Could Overwhelm States
States need more time to restart Medicaid eligibility redeterminations to prevent further disruptions to healthcare coverage and their budgets, experts said during a Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Accession Commission meeting Thursday. When Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act in March, it required states to give continuous Medicaid coverage to enrollees during the pandemic to receive a 6.2% boost in federal Medicaid funding. The move effectively barred states from disenrolling people from their Medicaid programs until the COVID-19 public health emergency ends, causing the program's rolls to grow. (Brady, 10/29)
