The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) issued guidance Tuesday on an interim final rule mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for workers at federally-funded health care facilities. The vaccination guidance pertains to the final rule issued by the Biden administration in November, which mandated all workers at CMS-funded facilities to have the COVID jab by January 4, […]
Category: Regulation
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services revealed new support for states to get behavioral health crisis intervention services to those experiencing mental health- or addiction-related crises in real-time. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which became law in March, grants CMS new authority to provide states with additional funding and tools to enhance […]
The Biden-Harris administration has bolstered programs meant to overcome the educational costs of getting into the behavioral health workforce in an effort to lessen the staffing pains felt sector-wide. Late in November, the White House hyped $1.5 billion in executive branch spending — $1 billion of which came from the American Rescue Plan Act, passed […]
Recently announced changes to Medicare telebehavioral health coverage will impact the entire industry whether providers contract with the program or not. The move from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) marks an acceleration of telehealth on top of staking out a point-of-no-return for the industry’s progression toward digital adoption. CMS announced at the […]
In an alleged scheme of massive proportions, two Florida brothers were convicted Thursday on federal charges of billing fraud at addiction treatment centers they operated. The ruling came from a South Florida jury after a seven-week trial, in which brothers Jonathan and Daniel Markovich were accused of fraudulently billing $112 million in services at two […]
The Biden administration on Thursday handed down a deadline for health care providers to get their workers vaccinated. This comes at a time in the behavioral health industry where many providers struggle to fully staff up their operations in the face of a massive health care staff shortage. Some industry insiders believe new federal rules […]
Former executives of the South Bay Mental Health Center (SBMHC), headquartered in Massachusetts, and their private equity (PE) backers have settled a Medicaid fraud suit filed in 2018 by the Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) for a record $25 million. To date, this is the largest publicly disclosed government health care fraud settlement involving PE oversight […]
On July 7, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Secretary Xavier Becerra renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration (the “COVID-19 Emergency Declaration”). It is expected that the COVID-19 Emergency Declaration will be renewed throughout 2021. HHS also renewed another public health emergency declaration on July 7, 2021, that most likely […]
The Biden administration announced plans Thursday to boost COVID vaccinations nationwide, which includes employees of health facilities that receive federal funding. The plans — which are aimed at containing the spread of the delta variant — will require all staff at federally funded facilities to be vaccinated. Those facilities include major hospitals that receive Medicare […]
The former president and CEO of a California addiction treatment center was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison on charges of administering a fraudulent claim scheme, which cost the state more than $18.5 million. Richard Ciampa, of the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce, was also ordered to pay more than $17.6 million in restitution […]
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