Lawmakers Urge CMS to Strengthen Nursing Home Ownership Transparency
May 26, 2023
Policy Snapshot
A group of lawmakers—including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Charles Grassley (D-IA), and Bob Casey (D-PA), and Reps. Katie Porter (D-CA) and Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)—recently sent a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) officials urging them to strengthen some provisions of their recent proposed rule on nursing home ownership and transparency.
The letter urged the following:
- Require more robust ownership reporting requirements for Medicare-certified nursing homes.
- Require standardized reporting requirements for Medicaid-certified nursing homes.
- Require reporting of all related parties in which nursing home owners have a direct or indirect stake.
- Require a complete listing of each facility in a nursing home chain owned by the same parent company.
- Provide clear reporting timelines and establish penalties for failure to report accurate information.
- Establish a requirement for annual auditing to verify data accuracy.
- Make these data available in a publicly searchable database.
The letter also posed several questions to help further clarify requirements.
CMS is working on finalizing the proposed rule, which is expected this summer.