CURRENT CALLS FOR ACTION

UPCOMING EVENTS

URGENT ACTION NEEDED
Tell Congress to Waive Restrictions on the Use of Telehealth: Support the CONNECT for Health Act (H.R. 4923/S. 2741)
Email your members of Congress urging them to include the CONNECT for Health Act in any future COVID-19 legislation.

TAKE ACTION NOW

COVID-19 Helpful Links

NASL Summary of CMS’s Interim Final Rule to Provide Much Needed Relief for Medicare Providers 
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         Click here to hear what our members say.    

​NASL's 31st Annual Meeting
is going virtual!
Details coming this summer.
 

NASL Webinar - Lab Tests for COVID-19:  An Executive Briefing on Testing for Nursing Facility Patients and Staff   
Full Replay or Slides only
 

NASL Webinar - Medicare Telehealth: What is is and what it is not in the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency
Full Replay or Slides only 
​
NASL member login required.

​Click the calendar for upcoming NASL Committee and Workgroup calls.

 

IN THE NEWS

CMS announced the creation of a new Office of Burden Reduction and Health Informatics. CMS’ press release notes that the new office will “unify the agency’s efforts to reduce regulatory and administrative burden and to further the goal of putting patients first.”   (6/23/20)
 

NASL along with APTA, AOTA, ASHA, AHCA, NCAL, NARA, APTQI, and others, submitted a letter to HHS urging them to make the telehealth waivers that have been issued for the duration of the PHE permanent.  Specifically, the letter is in response to the May 19th Executive Order from President Trump in which he directed federal agencies to remove regulatory barriers to economic recovery and identify actions that have been taken in response to COVID-19 that would promote economic recovery if made permanent.  The letter that was sent to HHS Secretary Alex Azar encourages HHS to work with Congress to amend the Social Security Act to provide CMS with the statutory authority to permanently extend the policy that allows telehealth services furnished by all outpatient therapy providers reimbursed under Medicare.  (6/10/20)

NASL submitted comments to CMS in response to the FY 2021 Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule, in addition to comments in response to CMS’s April 6 Interim Final Rule with Comment.  (6/9/20)

In a Coronavirus FAQ document (See pages 70-71) dated May 27, 2020, and released today, CMS made a breakthrough announcement, allowing institutional settings to furnish and bill for outpatient therapy delivered via telehealth during the ongoing COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.   (5/28/20)

HHS announced the distribution of billions of dollars in additional relief funds to SNFs to help those on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The HHS announcement acknowledges the unique challenges that nursing facilities have in caring for high-risk seniors and vulnerable patients.  (5/22/20)

CMS announced that it is reevaluating the amounts that will be paid under its Accelerated Payment Program and suspending its Advance Payment Program to Part B suppliers effective immediately following appropriation of another $175 billion for healthcare provider relief payments.  CMS had expanded these temporary loan programs to ensure providers and suppliers had the resources needed to combat the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  (4/27/20)

CMS released the Medicare Program: Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities; Updates to the Value-Based Purchasing Program for Federal Fiscal Year 2021.  Read the CMS fact sheet here.  Read NASL's Summary here.  (4/10/20)

The CARES Act appropriated $100 billion HHS’ Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund, to be used for reimbursement to hospitals and healthcare providers for expenses and lost revenue related the COVID-19 pandemic. Guidance was released today on how the first $30 billion of the $100 billion allocated for the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund will be distributed.  (4/10/20)

New COVID-19 recommendations issued by CMS late last week state, “Medicare is now covering COVID-19 testing when furnished to eligible beneficiaries by certified laboratories. These laboratories may also choose to enter facilities to conduct COVID-19 testing.” The Interim Final Rule released on March 30 includes an increased specimen draw fee for Medicare-enrolled labs for testing related to COVID-19. (4/6/20)

NASL submitted comments on the Draft 2020 – 2025 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan that was released by the Department of Health & Human Services' (HHS') Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in January 2020. Because the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is yet to be realized, we cautioned against finalizing a plan until such time as there can be some evaluation of the impact of temporary and other provisions enacted in response to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.  ​Read NASL's comments. (4/3/20)

NASL, the Alliance for Physical Therapy Quality & Innovation (APTQI), the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and the National Association of Rehabilitation Providers & Agencies (NARA) asked Secretary of Health & Human Services Alex Azar and CMS Administrator Seema Verma to utilize their new authority under Section 3703 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security Act (CARES Act) to issue a blanket waiver expanding the types of providers eligible to furnish telehealth services under Medicare so as to include physical therapists and physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants and speech language pathologists during the COVID-19 public health emergency. View the letter here. (4/2/20)

CMS has posted an update of the PDPM DLL Package (V1.0004 FINAL). This update adds support for the new ICD-10-CM code for Coronavirus, U07.1, which takes effect today. Please note that this code is ONLY in effect for assessments with target date of April 1, 2020 and later. The package contains updated test files and documentation.  In addition, CMS updated the ICD-10-CM to Clinical Category Mapping for PDPM. The updated file is available on the PDPM webpage.  Download the file marked, FY 2020 PDPM ICD-10 Mappings (ZIP) (revision posted 03-31-2020).   (4/1/20)

NASL has established a webpage of information on the Coronavirus COVID-19 for NASL members here:  http://nasl.mymemberfuse.com/groups/profile/view/groupid/9849