CMS; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; Medicare; Medicaid; Patients Over Paperwork; Omnibus Burden Reduction; Final Rule; Regulatory Provisions to Promote Program Efficiency

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is moving forward with its Patients over Paperwork initiative, which was created in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order directing federal agencies to reduce burdensome regulations in order to improve the patient and provider experience, and the health care system as a whole. On September 26, 2019, CMS passed the Omnibus Burden Reduction (Conditions of Participation) Final Rule (Final Rule), with the goal of removing CMS regulations that have become extraneous or burdensome on health care providers, allowing providers to increase and improve focus on patients. CMS estimates savings resulting from the Final Rule will be 4.4 million hours of time, and $800 million annually. The Final Rule was published on September 30, 2019, and goes into effect 60 days thereafter. Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), however, have six months to implement antibiotic stewardship programs and CAHs have eighteen months to implement Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) programs.
Continue Reading CMS Passes Final Rule Reducing Regulations Burdensome on Health Care Providers