CMS Moves to Ease Nursing Home and Health Care Paperwork, Projecting $320M in Savings

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a proposed rule designed to cut regulatory and administrative burdens across the health care sector, including nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

In a fact sheet accompanying the proposal, titled Cutting Administrative Requirements for Excellence in Patient Care (CARE), the agency said it had found obsolete, outdated and overly burdensome rules that it wants to remove or revise. CMS said the goal is to improve facility operations and free up resources providers could use to strengthen patient health and safety.

The proposal comes after a broad review of regulations affecting 21 provider and supplier categories. According to CMS, the changes could reduce costs by $320 million across the health care system and return more than 3.26 million hours of staff time to providers.

Among the proposed changes, CMS would eliminate three Medicaid payment transparency reporting requirements for nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ICFs/IID). Those requirements include reporting the share of Medicaid payments used for direct care worker compensation and support staff compensation in nursing facilities, along with support staff compensation in ICFs/IID.