Healthcare Reform: Implications for Long Term Care
Jordan Bernstein spoke recently at the American Health Lawyers Association conference, “Long Term Care and the Law,” which focused on nursing facilities, assisted living facilities and home health. The session, “Healthcare Reform: Implications for Long Term Care,” examined particular provisions of the national healthcare reform legislation, their effective dates, and their specific implications for the full panoply of long term/post acute care providers (nursing homes, home health, assisted living, hospice, long term care hospitals, and rehabilitation hospitals). Jordan made this timely presentation of high interest to the healthcare community in partnership with Joel M. Hamme, Esq. of Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville P.C.
Issue areas that were discussed included:
- Nursing home transparency
- Medicare – payment provisions, therapies and the Advisory Board
- Medicaid – eligibility expansion and increased state flexibility
- The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) program and entitlement reform
- Possible sleeper provisions on training and funding, fraud and abuse, liability reform, elder justice and background checks
- Who won? Who lost? And why?
The implementation of health care reform is going to be a long term effort and one that is likely to be an ongoing topic of discussions for the foreseeable future.