That can? It’s still getting kicked. Earlier this week the White House Office of Management and Budget updated the timeline on the release of regulations involving Section 111 Civil Money Penalties and post-settlement medical. We can now anticipate draft regulations involving civil money penalties before the end of the year. The post-settlement medical announcement can be anticipated in February 2020.
The updated timeline for civil money penalty regulations can be found here.
The updated timeline for post-settlement medical regulations can be found here.
We have been following the saga of these much-anticipated regulations for just under one year. In December 2018, CMS and OMB placed these draft regulations on the docket for 2019. Our headline last December was “Section 111 Civil Money Penalties: Issue Rises from the Dead, Placed in CMS Induced Coma.” We referred to the note about future medicals as “an announcement about a future announcement.” Just under a year later, the OMB continues to tweak the timeline and kick the can a bit further down the street.
While there is a lot of industry speculation as to the contents of these draft regulations, the simple fact is that we do not know what these announcements will contain. We and others certainly hope that CMS and OMB settle on clear, well-defined, and easy-to-follow guidance. Medicare has received public comment on both of these options going back as far as 2012. It understand the stakes and should have a clear view of the issues on both topics. Regardless of the content, and despite the copious comments already received, we anticipate a vigorous period of public comment.
That’s all to say that it will be some time before any of this results in final rules. Kick the can, CMS-induced coma, announcements about future announcements – pick you metaphor, but they all still apply.
ExamWorks Clinical Solutions will continue to closely monitor these regulations. For further information or if you have any questions, contact ExamWorks Vice President of Medicare Compliance Marty Cassavoy at marty.cassavoy@examworks-cs.com or 781-517-8085.
