CMS eager to leverage new nursing home ownership data, leader confirms
McKnight’s Long Term Care, April 26, 2023
By Kimberly Marselas
A top Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services enforcement official said Tuesday that the agency is eager to use data collected under a proposed ownership transparency rule to “scrutinize how certain ownership types correlate with quality of care and costs.”,
[Dara Corrigan, deputy CMS administrator and director of the agency’s Center for Program Integrity,] noted that about 70% of nursing homes are owned by for-profit companies, and that there has been a recent increase in acquisitions by private equity companies and real estate investment trusts. Those were the targets of the new rule, which adds definitions for both owner types and triggers changes to CMS provider enrollment forms to capture more information. The agency also hopes the changes will lead to a better understanding of related party relationships… .
The agency is currently reviewing formal comments on its ownership transparency rules; the submission period ended April 14. Several groups, including 18 states attorneys general [including Massachusetts], have submitted comments in favor of the rule, saying more transparency would improve their enforcement approaches.