The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is a department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The current administrator is Seema Verma, appointed by President Donald Trump.
CMS oversees the Medicare and Medicaid programs. CMS collects and analyzes data, produces research reports, and works to eliminate instances of fraud, waste and abuse within the health care system.
WASHINGTON—The House passed 14 new bipartisan health bills. The following bills were passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and passed the House unanimously.
WASHINGTON—The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recovered Medicare payments to providers under the COVID-19 Accelerated and Advance Payment (CAAP) programs in compliance with federal requirements, according to an audit conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG).
ARLINGTON, Virginia—The American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare) announced it will be holding webinars on the topics of home medical equipment (HME), e-prescribing strategies, durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers and billing in October. The details of the webinars are listed below.
MINNEAPOLIS—Tactile Systems Technology Inc., a medical technology company providing therapies for people with chronic disorders, has been approved by the pricing, data analysis and coding (PDAC) contractor for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for the use of health care common procedure coding system (HCPCS) code E0651 for billing the durable medical equipment Medicare administrative contractors for its pneumatic compression platform, “Nimbl.”
SALT LAKE CITY—Matia Mobility, a durable medical equipment company, has been granted a health care common procedure coding system (HCPCS) code for their “Tek” robotic mobilization device (RMD) by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
WILMINGTON, Delaware—Dr. Vishal Patel, a Wilmington physician, has agreed to pay $1 million to resolve allegations of violating the False Claims Act by ordering medically unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME) for patients covered by Medicare and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), announced U.S. Attorney David Weiss.
BALTIMORE, Maryland—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced additional resources and flexibilities are available in response to Hurricane Francine in Louisiana. CMS is working closely with the state of Louisiana to put these flexibilities in place to ensure those affected by the natural disaster have access to the care they need.
WASHINGTON—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation (WPS), a CMS contractor, notified nearly one million individuals whose protected health information or other personally identifiable information (PII) may have been compromised in connection with Medicare administrative services provided by WPS.
WASHINGTON—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) posted its final notice for Transitional Coverage for Emerging Technologies (TCET) on Aug. 7.
FRANKLIN, Tennessee—Kythera Labs, Inc. announced its certification as a Qualified Entity from the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS). The CMS Qualified Entity (QE) Program, also known as the Medicare Data Sharing for Performance Measurement Program, enables certified organizations to receive Medicare claims data under Parts A, B and D. Only 39 organizations are QEs and only 23, including Kythera, have access to nationwide data.
WASHINGTON—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced additional resources and flexibilities available in response to Hurricane Debby, now Tropical Storm Debby, in the states of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. CMS is working closely with these states to ensure those affected by this natural disaster have access to the care they need—when they need it most.
JACKSON, Michigan—Careline Physician Services (Careline) announced it has been selected by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to participate in a new Medicare alternative payment model designed to support people living with dementia and their caregivers.
MISSOULA, Montana—A Whitefish physician accused in connection with alleged schemes to defraud government health programs admitted on Wednesday to falsely billing Medicare and other health programs in a telemedicine scheme that resulted in more than $39 million in false billing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
WASHINGTON—On July 30, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule (CMS-1810-F) updating Medicare hospice payment rates by 2.9% and setting the aggregate cap amount for fiscal year (FY) 2025.
LOS ANGELES—A Ventura County physician who worked for two Pasadena hospices pleaded guilty to defrauding Medicare out of more than $3 million by billing the public health insurance program for medically unnecessary hospice services.
Victor Contreras, 68, of Santa Paula, pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud.
CHICAGO, Illinois—The office manager for a suburban Chicago medical equipment boutique has been indicted on federal health care fraud charges for allegedly billing private insurers for products that were never provided, including breast prostheses, compression garments and wigs for cancer survivors.
ST. LOUIS, Missouri—EmpowerMe Wellness announced it has been selected by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to participate in a new Medicare alternative payment model designed to support people living with dementia and their caregivers.
TOLEDO, Ohio—Ankita Singh, 42, formerly of Maumee, Ohio, was sentenced to 26 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary, for her role in a durable medical equipment (DME) scheme that defrauded the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicare Program. She was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $4,470,931.02, serve two years of supervised release and pay a special assessment fee of $600.
LOS ANGELES, California—The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has been selected by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to participate in a new Medicare alternative payment model designed to support people living with dementia and their caregivers.
PHOENIX, Arizona—Banner Alzheimer’s Institute and Banner Sun Health Research Institute were selected by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to participate in a new Medicare alternative payment model designed to support people living with dementia and their caregivers.
NASHVILLE—United States Attorney Henry C. Leventis announced criminal charges against four defendants in connection with alleged schemes to defraud Medicare. The charges stem from schemes to bill Medicare for medically unnecessary genetic tests, durable medical equipment, and medications that were procured through kickbacks used to obtain doctors’ orders and patient information.
The following individuals have been charged in the Middle District of Tennessee:
NEWARK, New Jersey – A Georgia chiropractor who owned or operated multiple durable medical equipment (DME) companies and a cancer genetic testing (CGx) company admitted her role in a health care fraud and illegal kickback conspiracy, Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna announced.
