On April 4, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) finalized guidance and policies for the Medicare Advantage program that will expand the supplemental benefits afforded to beneficiaries to include items and services that address certain “social determinants of health” (“SDOH”). SDOH refers to a wide range of factors and conditions that are known to have an impact on healthcare, ranging from socioeconomic status, education and employment, to one’s physical environment and access to healthcare. Previously, CMS did not allow an item or service to be eligible as a supplemental benefit if the primary purpose was for daily maintenance. CMS’ reinterpretation of the statute to expand the scope of the primarily health-related supplemental benefit standard is an important step in encouraging value-based care.
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Tax-Exempt Healthcare Organizations Brace for Impact as Senate Tax Reform Bill Passes
Update. We described in a previous blog post major changes that tax-exempt hospitals and other tax-exempt organizations in the healthcare industry face in the tax reform proposals working their way through Congress. In the early hours of Saturday, December 2, 2017, the Senate narrowly passed its tax reform bill. Although the Senate’s bill has much in common with the bill passed by the House of Representatives, there are significant differences. Accordingly, the House voted yesterday, December 4, 2017, to proceed with a conference committee to reconcile the two bills. A reconciled bill would still need to be approved by both the House and Senate. The Republicans are pushing hard to enact a final bill before year end.
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Tax-Exempt Hospitals & Other Tax-Exempt Healthcare Organizations Not Immune from Federal Tax Reform
As federal tax reform efforts proceed rapidly in both chambers of Congress, tax-exempt hospitals and other tax-exempt healthcare organizations are facing major potential changes. New tax burdens on tax-exempt organizations are among the ways in which the bills would raise revenue to pay for proposed tax cuts for businesses and individuals. Importantly, it is still early in the legislative process, and much may change as Republicans race to have a bill signed into law before the end of the year.
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Merger and Acquisition Activity in the Rehabilitation, Home Health and Hospice Sectors Increased in 2016, But Will this Trend Continue?
Since 2014, there has been a steady increase in mergers and acquisitions in the Rehabilitation sector, with a total of 40 deals announced in 2016. This is almost double the number of deals in 2014 (a total of 21), and includes deals with both publicly traded corporations as well as privately held acquirers. Similarly, after seeing a sharp decline in M&A activity in 2015, the home health and hospice sectors saw an increase of 12% in M&A activity in 2016 with a total of 57 deals announced, including several deals involving private equity investors.
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