The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded Jurisdiction 8 (states of Indiana and Michigan) to the incumbent Medicare Administrative Contractor, Wisconsin Physician Services. To read the transmittal from CMS, click HERE.

Do you want to know how your hospital compares to other hospitals? Check out the latest Hospital Compare data that was updated on February 28, 2019 by clicking HERE.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released updated skilled nursing facility (SNF) provider feedback reports. The data contained within the Preview Reports is based on quality data submitted by SNFs during the following quarterly timeframes: Quarter 3 – 2017 to Quarter 2 – 2018 data Application of Percent of Residents Experiencing One or More Falls with Major Injury (Long Stay) (#0674) Percent of Residents or Patients with Pressure Ulcers That Are New or Worsened (Short Stay) (NQF #0678) Application of Percent of Long-Term Care Hospital Patients with an Admission and Discharge Functional Assessment and a Care Plan That

With the start of each new year, the question of can I collect the deductible and/or coinsurance from a Medicare beneficiary at the time of service or must I submit the claim to my Medicare Administrative Contractor first and wait for the explanation of benefits (EOB) to see what the financial responsibility is to the Medicare beneficiary? Well, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) does answer this question. In CMS Publication

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has finished the mailing of new Medicare cards to 61 million people with Medicare prior to the original deadline of April 2019. But what are these new Medicare cards and how do they impact providers of therapy services? The Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015 required CMS to remove social security numbers from all Medicare cards and replace them with a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI). The MBI is 11 characters in length and are made up of only numbers and upper case letters. The MBI doesn’t use any special characters (e.g.

On January 28, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched a new app that gives consumers a modernized Medicare experience with direct access on a mobile device to some of the most-used content on Medicare.gov. The What’s Covered app is available for free in both Google Play and the Apple App Store. The app is available in Google Play at:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.medicare.coverage, and is available in the Apple App Store at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/whats-covered/id1444143600?mt=8. Click HERE to read the Press Release from CMS and what information is available on the app.

I have received several questions from therapists in private practice as well as therapists that practice in a hospital setting regarding providing free transportation to Medicare beneficiaries so they can receive outpatient therapy services at their private practice or hospital. They want to know is this legal or would this free transportation service violate the anti-kickback statute? The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has released several advisory opinions on this topic. If this is a service you are considering providing or are already providing to your Medicare beneficiaries, I would strongly encourage you to read these opinions as well

Since functional limitation reporting (FLR) (G-codes) is no longer required in 2019 for traditional Medicare Part B therapy patients, does this mean Progress Reports are also no longer required every 10 visits? The answer is