The proposed rule provides several wins for telehealth proponents; however, these wins may be moot if Congress fails to extend pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities beyond 2024. In 2022, Congress passeda $1.7 trillion spending billthat extended telehealth waivers — including ones that elim...
This column, the seventeenth installment in a series designed to clarify standards expectations and provide strategies for life safety and environment of care compliance, discusses recent categorical waivers from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for requirements in the 2000 edition of...
Significantly, CMS stated in guidance issued on February 24, 2023, that “When the COVID-19 PHE ends, the waivers will terminate, and physicians and entitiesmust immediately complywith all provisions of the Stark Law”[9](emphasis added). Since the Stark Law is a str...
which created expedited pathways to licensure for out-of-state physicians, while others implemented reciprocity waivers, allowing healthcare professionals with an active license in good standing in a state to practice in a different state without a license. During the pandemic, these...
Pandemic-specific licensure waivers. Every jurisdiction in the United States modified applicable state law in some way to facilitate providing care via telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. And while most waivers have lapsed, physicians shouldnotassume that state licensure laws are waived without ch...
Prior Texas Waivers In 2011, Texas’s first 1115 Waiver (2011 Waiver) began and was originally set to expire in September 2016, but its term was extended by fifteen months to December 2017. Using the authority and flexibility provided by the 1115 Waiver in designing its Medicaid program, Texa...
Another option would be for HHS and the Attorney General to agree to extend the in-person waivers for buprenorphine prescriptions specifically under theopioid public health emergency, once the COVID-19 public health emergency ends. The HHS official says that the agency is “still evaluating” that...
and still others had varying licensure waivers and timelines. Notably, most state PHEs have already expired. After the PHE, physicians will be required to hold a complete and unrestricted medical license in the state where the patient is located when receiving care (the originating...
been shown to reduce overall costs and improve quality, but are closely monitored by CMS during model implementation. Participants must understand the limitations and parameters of these waivers to ensure compliance with the model requirements and any Medicare program rules that the waivers may not ...
Obama was heavily criticized for issuing waivers that allowed individuals to circumvent the ban entirely or in part by allowing them to recuse themselves if the need arises [source: Politifact]. And, following midterm changes to his staff, some prominent officials immediately took positions in ...