CMS pauses home health, hospice provider enrollment into Medicare

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Wednesday temporarily paused new home health and hospice enrollment into Medicare.

The agency issued a six-month freeze on new provider enrollments as part of its latest effort to crack down on fraud in the healthcare system. CMS will increase investigations and accelerate the removal of hospice and home health providers suspected of fraudulent activity while the moratoria are ongoing, along with employing new data analytics to scrutinize the sector, CMS said in a news release.

The pause applies to applications for initial Medicare enrollment and certain changes in majority ownership. It will not affect current enrollments, meaning existing providers can continue offering services, CMS said. To read full article, click here.