'Makes No Sense': Home Health Community Reacts to CMS' Moratorium

Healthcare Transactions attorney Michelle Huntsman was quoted in a Home Health Care News article examining the home health industry's response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) new nationwide moratorium on home health and hospice Medicare enrollments. The article reported that providers largely support CMS' efforts to combat fraud, waste and abuse but worry that the enrollment pause could restrict growth, slow expansion in underserved markets and limit patient access to care. Ms. Huntsman observed that the policy could also affect deal-making activity by prompting closer review of change-of-ownership transactions and longer approval timelines.

"It's really going to depend on the facts of the transaction and the target, its enrollment history and history," she said. "Buyers need to be doing additional diligence and make sure they fully understand any prior changes of ownership that the target has undergone. They should also be doing very significant compliance reviews, because I anticipate transactions, change of ownership, will be on CMS radar for additional compliance reviews. I think that they should be prepared for processing times to be slower across the board."

READ: 'Makes No Sense': Home Health Community Reacts to CMS' Moratorium