Medicare has temporarily expanded its coverage of telehealth services to respond to the current Public Health Emergency. These services expand the current telehealth covered services,...
Although Congress enacted Medicaid in the 1960s to provide health care coverage for the poor, Medicaid has become the primary pay source for nursing home and long-term care for the vulnerable elderly population. The majority of nursing home residents, or 80%, are age 65 or older and 62% of residents are covered by Medicaid,...
Happy 2020! Major changes to the federal retirement account rules were signed into law December 20, 2019, under the SECURE Act (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act). Under the new rules, a retirement account can no longer be "stretched" and must be distributed within 10 years to non-spouse beneficiaries. This...
The annual Medicare Open Enrollment Period is October 15 – December 7. Here are some things you can do during the annual enrollment period:
Join a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan [1] or switch from one Medicare drug plan to another Medicare drug plan.The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released an expanded list of persistently poor-performing nursing homes, including over thirty facilities in Texas. The list includes hundreds of facilities that participate, or are candidates for participation, in the Special Focus Facility (SFF) program, designed to increase oversight...
The Stone Law Firm wishes you a healthy, prosperous, and happy 2019! We greatly appreciate the opportunity to provide elders and special needs individuals in the community with legal services. In 2019, we look forward to assisting clients with navigating complex Medicaid long-term care programs and other public benefits, and with estate planning...
Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, offered by private insurance companies, as an alternative to the traditional Medicare program, are improperly denying many medical claims, according to a New York Times article. Based on a new report by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, the "plans, which now cover more than 20...
The Texas Legislature has approved major changes to the Statutory Durable Power of Attorney (SDPOA) - the form that allows you to appoint an agent to act for you in certain financial matters - making it imperative to review and consider updating your power of attorney. Legislators expanded the instrument to include important new...
The federal rules for nursing homes that participate in Medicare and Medicaid have been comprehensively revised, affecting requirements for admission contracts, care planning, resident rights, quality of care, transfer and discharge procedures, protections against abuse neglect, and exploitation, and other aspects of facility life. Attorney Nancy Stone has co-authored a comprehensive article about...
