Beneficiary Groups Concerned CMS' Nursing Home Guidance Could Lower Penalties

Nursing homes welcomed guidance released last month changing how penalties are levied against nursing homes, but beneficiary advocates expressed concern that the guidance is a way to weaken nursing home oversight and will make the penalties less frequent and less costly. CMS in July released guidance that beneficiary advocates say would make civil money penalties imposed against nursing homes lower and less frequent. The guidance directs state survey agencies to penalize nursing homes using per-instance penalties for problems that existed...