In This Issue
I Told You, I Told You, I Told You – I said it and I said it for years, and lots of folks challenged me to prove it. Now I can. It is now irrefutably true that CMS Region IV, headquartered in Atlanta, imposes and collects staggeringly more civil money penalties (CMPs) for survey deficiencies than any other CMS region in the nation. more…
Recent Nursing Facility CON Decision Creates Controversy: What Is “Past Quality of Care” in a CON Review? – A recent decision in the Wake County nursing facility certificate of need (CON) case includes a new take on quality of care in the CON context that might well impact future applications and reviews. The case arose from appeals of the CON section decision in the 2011 Wake County nursing facility review. That review involved competitive applications seeking to develop part of the 240 new nursing facility beds allocated for Wake County in the 2011 State Medical Facilities Plan (Wake Review).
HITECH Compliance Deadline Looms – Updating Business Associate Agreements Is a High Priority – The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has set a compliance deadline of September 23, 2013, for HIPAA-covered entities to meet essentially all aspects of the new HIPAA rules that were recently updated to implement the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.
“Life is like photography. We develop from the negatives.” ~ Unknown