CMS Unveils Financial Incentives of Nursing Home Staffing Campaign
On January 8, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to offer financial incentives for registered nurses (RNs) as part of the Nursing Home Staffing Campaign. This follows the December launch of the program website and the CNA Recruitment and Career Pathways page.
The financial incentive program will provide grant funding for nonprofit nursing and educational organizations to apply to become Financial Incentive Administrators that would administer financial incentives to RNs in return for working three years in a qualifying nursing home or state inspection agency. The Financial Incentive Administrators would be responsible for distributing the funds, verifying work status of eligible RNs, and working with nursing homes and state agencies to fill vacancies. More details can be found by viewing the NOFO and questions about the campaign can be sent to NHSC@cms.hhs.gov. LeadingAge has continued to engage with CMS on the Nursing Home Staffing Campaign and provide specific state programs that have been successful from our membership. Keep up to date with LeadingAge’s Nursing Home Staffing Mandate serial post.
CMS Responds to LeadingAge Advocacy on Resident Vaccination Reporting
On January 13, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) responded to a December letter from LeadingAge, the third in a series of advocacy on nursing home reporting requirements. LeadingAge has repeatedly called on CMS to streamline reporting requirements and eliminate duplicative reporting, with this last issue being the one addressed in the December letter. Read the letter and CMS’s response here.
CMS Proposes 4.33% MA Rate Increase for CY26
On Friday, January 10, CMS released its required, annual Advance Notice of Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D payment policy updates including a proposed average plan rate increase of 4.33% and continuing policy adjustments to the Effective Growth Rate and the calculation of risk scores. It also proposes to begin the process to transition Programs of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) organizations to the 2024 CMS-HCC risk adjustment model. The notice also includes information on Part D risk adjustment changes and seeks input on future measures to be included in the MA Star Rating program that focuses on clinical care, outcomes and patient experience.
The Better Medicare Alliance has already asked for swift action from the Trump Administration to make sure that the CY2026 rate increase is aligned with increases in medical costs. A more detailed article will be published this week, but the CMS Fact Sheet can be found here. Comments on the Advance Notice are due by February 10, 2025 (by 10:59 PM CT) and the final payment notice will be published no later than April 7, 2025, by the Trump Administration.
Congressional Spending Reform Options: The Medicaid Menu of Possible Targets
As Republican Congressional leadership coalesces around a strategy to enact upcoming priorities like spending cuts, extension of expiring tax cuts, and other campaign promises through budget reconciliation, finding ways to pay for these policies is front of mind. “Menus” of cost savings options were leaked since January 9, including by the House Budget Chair’s office. On the menus are Medicaid program reforms, which could offer large amounts in possible spending offsets. LeadingAge dove into each of the proposals in a recent article: Congressional Spending Reform Options—the Medicaid Menu of Possible Targets.
Nearly all these policy proposals would cause massive state budget holes as the federal government strives to reduce their financial obligation in the Medicaid program. These reductions would require states to raise revenues from the tax base, cut spending in other programs, or make programmatic changes within Medicaid such as reducing provider rates, covered services, or covered populations. LeadingAge Kansas has already started conversations with Kansas congressional offices regarding these potential cuts and will share when additional grassroots advocacy is needed in reaching out to offices.
Prepare for the TEAM Model Which Begins in 2026
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation finalized a new episode-based model called Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) that will replace current CMMI bundled payment models –such as recently ended Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement and the Bundled Payment for Care Improvements that will end in 2025. The new model will be implemented in areas that are currently participating in a bundled or episodic models, but it will also be expanding into new geographies that have had little exposure to these risk-based models that can markedly transform care delivery across the continuum.
Now is the time to learn about this new model and begin preparations. LeadingAge in partnership with ATI Advisory has a free on-demand spotlight in the Learning Hub, entitled “An Overview of the Transforming Episode Accountability Model, “ to help members understand the basics of the model, the risks and opportunities, and how to begin preparing. The hospitals in Kansas currently set to follow this new model are:
- Hays Medical Center
- Hutchinson Regional Medical Center
- Lawrence Memorial Health
- University of Kansas Health System, Great Bend Campus
Summit Surgical, Hutchinson
Weekly Recaps: January 15, 2025
- Affordable Housing Weekly Recap. Here is your weekly Affordable Housing Weekly Recap.
- Home Health Weekly Recap. Here is your weekly Home Health Weekly Recap.
- Hospice Weekly Recap. Here is your weekly Hospice Weekly Recap.
- Life Plan Community Weekly Recap. Here is your weekly LPC Weekly Recap.
- Medicaid, HCBS, and PACE Weekly Recap. Here is your weekly Medicaid, HCBS, and PACE Weekly Recap.
- Nursing Home Weekly Recap. Here is your weekly Nursing Home Weekly Recap.
- Workforce Weekly Recap. Here is your weekly Workforce Weekly Recap.
