CMS finalizes OASIS-D guidance manual ahead of January 2019 implementation date

Less than two weeks before a new version of the OASIS is scheduled to take effect, CMS has released a final guidance manual for the revised assessment.

Post-training materials for CMS quality reporting training are now available

CMS posted post-training materials — with answers to knowledge checks — for its Nov. 6 and 7 Home Health Quality Reporting Program Provider Training.

Federal judge finds Obamacare unconstitutional; law remains in effect pending further decisions

A federal judge has ruled that the entirety of the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare is unconstitutional, though he did not order a remedy and an appeal is already being assembled.

Special requirements for billing urology supplies & updated DMEPOS fee schedule

Medicare covers urinary catheters and external urinary collection devices when they are used to drain or collect urine for a resident with permanent urinary incontinence or permanent urinary retention. According to CMS, permanent urinary retention occurs when the condition is not expected to be medically or surgically corrected within three months. The urology benefit under Medicare Part B does not cover the treatment of chronic urinary tract infection or other bladder conditions if the permanence requirement is not met.

10 Ways to Protect Nurses From Active Shooters

A month after Chicago’s Mercy Hospital & Medical Center held an active shooter drill, a gunman killed an emergency department physician, pharmacy technician, and police officer on the hospital’s campus.

Just over a year ago, a man walked into New Hampshire’s Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and shot his mother, who was a patient in the intensive care unit.

Workplace violence is a serious issue in healthcare. It was a topic of conversation among nurse executives at the HealthLeaders 2018 CNO Exchange in November, and, through its Sentinel Event Alert 59, the Joint Commission has called on healthcare organizations to better protect employees from abuse.