Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

$5 billion cut could put care needs of nursing home patients at risk A newly issued Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rule, which, by regulatory means, will cut by $5 billion over five years the amount Medicare sends to nursing homes, is facing tough opposition from the Coalition to Protect Senior Care, says a May 5 press release from CPSC. Caregiver groups warn that this rule will undermine the growing complex-care needs of America's oldest, sickest nursing-home patients and undercut ongoing improvements in the clinical infrastructure already under way. Lisa Cantrell, a co-founder of the National Association of Health Care Assistants and a national spokeswoman for CPSC, says that the association will try to convince Congress to voice rightful, strong dissent and will also urge CMS to re-evaluate and nullify the new rule. "This is bad policy from CMS, and it is in need of swift correction based on simple common sense and what is best for patients and caregivers," she says.