Knowledge Base Article

Other Updates

Amount in Controversy Threshold Requirement for ALJ Hearing for CY 2022

Beginning in January 2005, the established amount in controversy (AIC) threshold amounts for Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) hearings and reviews in the Federal District court, is to be adjusted annually. The amounts are to remain the same in CY 2022 as they have been in CY 2021:

• ALJ hearing requests - $180
• Federal District Court reviews - $1,760

This information was posted in the Thursday, September 30, 2021 Federal Register (link).

October 27, 2021: OIG Report – 2021’s Top Unimplemented Recommendations

The full title of this report is 2021 OIG’s Top Unimplemented Recommendations: Solutions to Reduce Fraud, Waster, and Abuse in HHS Programs (link). In this year’s iteration of this annual report, the OIG focuses on “the top 25 unimplemented recommendations that, in OIG’s view, would most positively affect HHS programs in terms of cost savings, public health and safety, and program effectiveness and efficiency, if implemented.”

The CMS noted in a related Fact Sheet (link) to the Final Rule that among other things, this “rule finalizes modifications to the ESRD Treatment Choices (ETC) Model policies to encourage certain health care providers to decrease disparities in rates of home dialysis and kidney transplants among ESR patients with lower socioeconomic status. This makes the model one of the agency’s first CMS Innovation Center models to directly address health equity.”

November 3, 2021: CMS Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) Program Update

The CMS has updated the AUC Program webpage with the following notice: “The EDUCATIONAL AND OPERATIONS TESTING PERIOD for the AUC Program has been extended beyond CY 2021. There are no payment consequences associated with the AUC program during the Educational and Operations Testing Period. We encourage stakeholders to use this period to learn, test and prepare for the AUC program. The payment penalty phase will begin on the later of January 1, 2023 or the January 1 that follows the declared end of the public health emergency (PHE) for COVID-19. For more information please review the CY 2022 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule: (link) see pp. 661-716.”

November 10, 2021: Automatic Exception Policy for MIPS Individual Physicians

CMS announced they will be applying an automatic extreme and uncontrollable circumstances (EUC) policy to all individual Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) eligible clinicians for the 2021 MIPS performance year. A QPP COVID-19 Response Fact Sheet is available on the CMS Quality Payment Program webpage (link).

November 12, 2021: CMS Fact Sheet Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles for 2022

CMS issued a Fact Sheet (link) announcing the 2022 premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance amounts for the Medicare Part A and Part B programs, and the 2022 Medicare Part D income-related monthly adjustment amounts. CMS notes that the increases in part are due to the uncertainty regarding the potential use of the new Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm™ which costs $56,000 per person, per year.

November 12, 2021: Nursing Home Visitation Guidance during the COVID-19 PHE Revised & COVID-19 Survey Activities

CMS published a revised memorandum regarding nursing home visitation and COVID-19 (link). Specifically, the following statement has been added to the memorandum summary, “visitation is now allowed for all residents at all times.” While noting that current nursing home COVID-19 data shows approximately 86% of residents and 74% of staff after fully vaccinated, CMS continues to emphasize the importance of maintaining infection prevention practices.

CMS also published a second memo, Changes to COVID-19 Survey Activities which includes steps to assist State Survey Agencies (SAs) to address the backlog of facility complaint and recertification surveys. You can read about both memos in a related CMS News Alert (link).

November 19, 2021: COVID-19 Booster Shots Expanded to All Adults

The FDA announced (link) an amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines authorizing use of a single booster dose for all individuals 18 years of age and older after completion of primary vaccinations.