This blog post includes summaries of several laws recently passed by the New Jersey Legislature that impact health care providers, including a law requiring health care providers to wear certain kinds of name tags. These additional requirements come at a time when New Jersey’s providers are providing continued crucial care in response to the pandemic and experiencing significant financial strain caused by the pandemic.
Revised New Jersey Executive Directive No. 20-016 Modifies Testing Protocols for Ambulatory Surgery Centers to Allow Antigen Tests
The New Jersey Department of Health has modified its previous guidance on the resumption of elective surgeries and invasive procedures in Ambulatory Surgery Centers (“ASCs”) to allow antigen tests to satisfy the requirement that patients undergo COVID‑19 testing and receive results within six days before their scheduled surgery.
New Jersey Is Poised to Allow the Use of Telemedicine for Medical Cannabis
New Jersey is poised to approve S619, which would permit providers to authorize patients for medical cannabis through telemedicine and telehealth. The bill has already passed the Assembly and is before the Senate for a second reading. Under the bill, for the first 270 days following enactment, a health care practitioner may authorize the medical use of cannabis via telemedicine and telehealth for a patient who is a resident of a long-term care facility, has a developmental disability, is terminally ill, is receiving hospice care from a licensed hospice care provider, or is housebound as certified by the patient’s physician.
Time to Repay Medicare Loans Extended
On September 30, 2020, as part of a larger government short-term spending bill, President Trump signed into law a program which relaxes the repayment terms for Medicare loans that hospitals received earlier this year under the Accelerated and Advanced Payment Program. Whereas the loans were originally due 120 days after they were issued, the new law directs the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) to wait up to one year after the loan was issued to begin withholding Medicare payments to recoup funds.
The New Jersey State Legislature Passes Bill Requiring New Direct Care Staff-to-Resident Ratios for Nursing Homes and Establishes a New Task Force on Direct Care Worker Retention
The New Jersey Legislature passed a bill (A4652/S2712) which requires nursing homes to maintain certain minimum direct care staff-to-resident ratios. The bill expressly requires: (i) one certified nurse aide to every eight residents for the day shift; (ii) one direct care staff member to every 10 residents for the evening shift, provided that no fewer than half of all staff members are to be certified nurse aides, and each staff member will sign in to work as a certified nurse aide and will perform certified nurse aide duties; and (iii) one direct care staff member to every 14 residents for the night shift, provided that each direct care staff member is to sign in to work as a certified nurse aide and perform certified nurse aide duties.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS") Issues Advisory Alert to Qualifying APM Participants for Incentive Payment Information
85 FR 57980 – CMS issued a payment advisory to alert certain clinicians who are Qualifying APM participants ("QPs") and eligible to receive an Alternative Payment Model ("APM") Incentive Payment that CMS does not have the current billing information needed to disburse the payment. Specifically, CMS has identified those eligible clinicians who earned an APM Incentive Payment in CY 2020 based on their CY 2018 QP status. When CMS disbursed the CY 2020 APM Incentive Payments, CMS was unable to verify current Medicare billing information for some QPs and was therefore unable to issue payment.
Over Objections, CMS Maintains Hospital Transparency Pricing Rule in the Inpatient Prospective Payment System Final Rule for 2021
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has released its Inpatient Prospective Payment System (“IPPS”) final rule for fiscal year (“FY”) 2021, effective October 1, 2020. The rule affects approximately 3,200 acute care hospitals. Over the objections of numerous providers, including the American Hospital Association, CMS maintained the transparency rule in the final rule, which requires hospitals to report to CMS the median rate negotiated with Medicare Advantage organizations for inpatient services.
New Jersey Passes Bill Requiring New Prevailing Wage for Long-Term Care Facility Staff and Establishes a Direct Care Ratio for Nursing Homes
The New Jersey State Assembly and the New Jersey State Senate passed a new bill (A4482/S2758) establishing the minimum wage for certain long-term care facility staff and establishes direct care ratio requirements for nursing homes. First, the bill provides that the minimum wage for direct care staff in long-term care facilities is to be $3 higher than the prevailing State minimum wage and annually adjusted based on cost-of-living increase. Second, under the bill, the Commissioner of Human Services will be required to establish a direct care ratio reporting and rebate requirement that will take effect no later than July 1, 2021.
Deadline for Phase 2 Financial Relief Applications Extended by CMS
Healthcare providers now have more time to apply for the next round of emergency financial relief under the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”). Previously, the deadline to apply for the Phase 2 General Distribution was August 28, 2020. However, on August 25, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued new guidance extending the deadline to September 13, 2020 and expanding the eligible providers.
Guidance on Free Testing On or about August 4, 2020, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) issued new guidance in the form of frequently asked questions regarding a clinical laboratory’s ability to offer free COVID-19 antibody testing to federal health care program beneficiaries who receive other medically necessary blood tests.