A lawsuit in New York state highlights an issue with some assisted living facilities: No wheelchairs allowed. The lawsuit claims that state regulations and facility policies discriminate against residents and potential residents who use wheelchairs. Filed on behalf of the Fair Housing Justice Center and an anonymous assisted living resident, the lawsuit alleges that four assisted living…
Medicare is proposing a new flat rate reimbursement system for doctors who treat Medicare patients. Some worry that the plan may reduce payments to specialists and cause fewer doctors to accept Medicare patients. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) says the proposed changes are designed to reduce paperwork by combining four levels of…
A promissory note is normally given in return for a loan and it is simply a promise to repay the amount. Classifying asset transfers as loans rather than gifts can be useful because it sometimes allows parents to “lend” assets to their children and still maintain Medicaid eligibility. Before Congress enacted the Deficit Reduction Act…
The federal government has begun mailing new Medicare cards to 59 million Americans. You should keep track of when your new card will arrive and contact Medicare if you don’t receive it. To prevent fraud and fight identity theft, the federal government is issuing new cards to all Medicare beneficiaries that will no longer have…
A New Jersey appeals court rules against a nursing home’s motion to remove a resident’s public guardian because the fact that the resident’s initial Medicaid application was denied was not proof that the guardian was not acting in the resident’s best interest. In the Matter of Y.M. (N.J. Super. Ct., App. Div., No. A-4532-16T4, June…
A New Jersey appeals court remands a case involving a Medicaid applicant whose application was denied due to her failure to provide additional information because the applicant claimed she did not receive notice. R.P. v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (N.J. Super. Ct., App. Div., No. A-3041-16T1, May 25, 2018). R.P. entered a…
A Delaware court rules that the state properly denied a Medicaid application for excess income because nothing in federal law prohibits a state from taking into account the income of an incapacitated nursing home resident when determining Medicaid eligibility. Genesis Healthcare v. The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (Del. Super. Ct., No. N17A-11-001…
The daughter of a New Jersey nursing home resident successfully defended against a lawsuit by the nursing home alleging that she was liable for her father’s care, according to an article on NJ.com. When Tracey Mitchell admitted her father to a nursing home, according to the article, she signed the admissions agreement, which contained a…
Reversing a lower court, an Indiana appeals court rules that an attorney who failed to sign a client’s will as a witness was not entitled to summary judgment in a legal malpractice claim by the client’s wife because the wife did not need to probate the will in order to prove damages. Davey v. Boston…
Arizona and Florida are the latest states to request a waiver from the requirement that states provide three months of retroactive Medicaid coverage to eligible Medicaid recipients. Medicaid law allows a Medicaid applicant to be eligible for benefits for up to three months before the month of the application if the applicant met eligibility requirements…
