There are several significant developments impacting the current calendar year (CY) 2020 Medicare physician fee schedule (PFS) policies and rates that for Part B physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT) as well as speech-language pathology (SLP) services.

EOHHS has posted online for electronic filing the FY 2020 Direct Care Add On Interim Compliance Form. Facilities are required to complete an interim Compliance Report no later than March 2nd.

Governor Baker has filed an FY 2020 Supplemental Appropriation Budget bill (H.4354) which includes outside sections which would amend and expand the Department of Public Health’s long term care facility licensure and suitability regulations.

Mass Senior Care Association is continuing to encourage members to participate in the Answering the Call To Care Campaign to protect quality nursing home care in FY 2021. It is critical the nursing facility community of staff, residents, family members and vendors unite and amplify our voice to urge the Legislature to support Mass Senior Care’s FY 2021 “Fix It” budget proposal in order to modernize MassHealth’s broken reimbursement system so that it reflects the true cost of caring for our most vulnerable residents.

The Final Report of the Nursing Facility Task Force was submitted to the legislature earlier this week and contains a series of policy options related to four main themes: Right sizing the nursing home sector; Establish a reasonable and sustainable rate structure for nursing and rest homes; Promote high quality care in nursing and rest homes; Ensure a sustainable workforce serving the care needs of individuals across the entire long-term care continuum.

Mass Senior Care is pleased to welcome new members to our Association. Our Associate Members have demonstrated their commitment to the senior care provider community by joining Mass Senior Care and participating as exhibitors and sponsors for events and educational conferences.

The US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released its updated list which reflects all OIG exclusions and reinstatement actions up to, and including, those taken in January 2020. This new file is meant to replace the updated List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE) database file available for download last month.

Register now for the AHCA PDPM Academy 2020 Subscription – Building Optimal Operational Capacities©. This subscription takes the place of the 2019 PDPM Academy which ceased to be updated as of January 2020.

CMS has announced that as of the January 2020 refresh of Nursing Home Compare, the timeframe covered by the short stay (SNF) pressure ulcer QM has been adjusted to match the timeframe for the other MDS-based QMs. Only the four-quarter average will be reported: the individual quarters on the provider preview will display NR (not reported) for every facility.