Complete Story
10/28/2016
Arbitration Issues Remain in the RoP
Arbitration Issues Remain in the RoP
In the October 20 edition of The Source, we shared the potential impact on a specific piece of the new Rules of Participation slated to go into effect on November 28, 2016 for those communities who are Medicaid and/or Medicare providers.
A portion of the new rules precludes Medicaid and/or Medicare long-term care facilities from requiring pre-dispute arbitration provisions in resident contracts entered into after November 28. There are a number of questions surrounding this part of the new Rules of Participation.
LeadingAge Ohio has been working closely with Marty Sweterlitsch at Benesch to monitor the impact of this new rule. Marty is LeadingAge Ohio's representative on the LeadingAge national legal committee; that group is slated to meet this coming Sunday in Indianapolis at the LeadingAge national annual meeting and this topic is on their agenda.
The American Health Care Association (AHCA) and two other groups have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi challenging the pre-dispute arbitration ban that is contained in the Nursing Home Rules of Participation final (“mega”) rule and have sought a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from enforcing the arbitration ban pending the outcome of that litigation. LeadingAge chose not to participate in the litigation deciding that a more prudent use of time and resources is to wait two weeks and re-examine the options as the AHCA case proceeds.
LeadingAge has issued the following memo to members that more fully explains its position and how and why the Association reached that decision.
LeadingAge Ohio continues to be on top of this issue and will keep you informed as more information becomes available.
For questions regarding the arbitration issue, please contact Nisha Hammel, Director of Advocacy, at nhammel@leadingageohio.org or call 614-545-9026.