CURRENT CALLS FOR ACTION

UPCOMING EVENTS

URGENT ACTION NEEDED TODAY – Carter/Blunt Rochester Sign-On Letter to CMS re Significant Cuts to the 2021 Physician Fee Schedule Resulting from E&M Changes by CMS

Contact your member of the U.S. House of Representatives today and ask that he or she add their signature to the Carter/Blunt Rochester Congressional sign-on letter.

Share your reactions and challenges in these first days of the implementation of PDPM by completing

NASL’s PDPM Implementation Challenges Survey

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Let our members tell you why they attend the NASL Winter Conference.

NASL 2020 Winter Legislative & Regulatory Conference
February 24-26, 2020
InterContinental Washington DC - The Wharf
Washington, DC

Register today

NASL’s room block at the InterContinental Hotel at the DC Wharf is now closed.   Please contact A Room With A View at 1-800-780-4343 for alternative accommodations.

Become a sponsor.

Click the calendar for upcoming NASL Committee and Workgroup calls.

 

IN THE NEWS

CMS posted a new DRAFT version of the 2020 MDS 3.0 Item Sets (v1.18.0), scheduled to take effect on October 1, 2020. Please note that Section G has been removed from all Federal item sets.  Download the draft version from the CMS 3.0 Technical Information webpage. Scroll down the downloads section to access the draft marked as MDS_3.0_Item_Sets_v1.18.0_(DRAFT)_for_October_1_2020_Release (ZIP).  (12/20/19)

The Senate cleared the domestic spending package in a 71-23 vote, sending the fiscal year 2020 legislation to President Trump to be signed into law before government funding expires at midnight on Friday, December 20, 2019.  The end-of-year domestic spending package includes a number of NASL’s legislative priorities that we have been advocating for during 2019.  Specifically, the package includes funding for five months for the extension of several Medicare and Medicaid policies, provisions related to reporting requirements for clinical laboratories, complex rehabilitative technology (CRT) manual wheelchairs, as well as permanently repealing medical device tax and the so-called “Cadillac” health insurance tax. (12/19/19)

CMS issued the CY 2020 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule (CMS-1715-F and IFC).  The Final Rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on November 15, 2019.  Read the pre-publication version of the Final Rule.  Read CMS’s Press Release.  Read CMS’s Fact Sheet.  Read NASL’s Summary of highlights of the Final Rule.   (11/1/19)

CMS issued the CY 2020 Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) Final Rule (CMS-1711-FC).  The Final Rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on November 8, 2019.  Read the pre-publication version of the Final Rule.  Read CMS’s Press Release,  Read CMS’s Fact Sheet,  Read NASL’s Summary,  (10/31/19)

In a big win for portable x-ray providers and suppliers, CMS finalized its Omnibus Burden Reduction (Conditions of Participation) Final Rule (CMS-3346-F).  This Final Rule removes Medicare regulations identified through CMS’s Patients over Paperwork initiative as unnecessary, obsolete, or excessively burdensome on healthcare providers.  Modernizing the Medicare regulations related to the ordering of portable x-ray services, as well as the personnel qualification requirements for portable  x-ray technologists, are two issues that NASL has long been advocating on the Hill and to CMS, and the Final Rule addresses both.  Download the Final Rule; download CMS’ Fact Sheet, download NASL’s Patients over Paperwork Comments.  (9/26/19)

CMS posted the MDS 3.0 RAI Manual v1.17.1 and MDS forms effective October 1, 2019 at  the following link: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/NursingHomeQualityInits/MDS30RAIManual.html  (9/18/19)
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NASL released its full summary and analysis of the FY 2020 Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System Final Rule.  (8/19/19)