Important Federal Updates Impacting Long-Term Care Providers
Dear Members,
Over the past week, there have been four pieces of health care news coming out of Washington that we want to make sure you’ve seen:
- CMS has formally repealed the nursing home minimum staffing standard:
CMS released an interim final rule (IFR) that repeals parts of the Biden Administration’s staffing mandate. Specifically, the IFR rescinds implementation of the 24/7 on-site registered nurse requirement, as well as the specific minimum number of nursing hours per resident per day requirements. Nursing centers are still required to comply with the facility assessment provision, which has already gone into effect. This rule also does not impact the Medicaid Institutional Transparency provisions that were previously finalized. This rule takes effect 60 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register. There is a 60-day comment period, with all comments due by February 2, 2026.
- CMS Suspends SNF Provider Enrollment Revalidation Deadline Indefinitely
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) informed AHCA that the mandatory off-cycle SNF provider enrollment revalidation deadline of January 1, 2026, has been suspended indefinitely. Please see the formal announcement from AHCA below:
Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) informed AHCA that the mandatory off-cycle SNF provider enrollment revalidation deadline of January 1, 2026, has been suspended indefinitely. AHCA has been regularly advocating to CMS about this deadline, and we appreciate the agency granting our request for relief given the many difficulties providers have faced recently and throughout the process. CMS is not announcing a new compliance date at this time and will post a formal notice in the coming days.
Why This is Happening
Over the past year, SNF providers have experienced various challenges with meeting the complex and extensive new provider enrollment reporting requirements. AHCA advocated to CMS about these issues, which resulted in three prior deadline extensions in 2025.
Over the past several weeks, hundreds of AHCA members reported new, serious technical problems with the CMS PECOS provider enrollment system. AHCA escalated these issues to CMS officials seeking resolution and requesting a suspension of the January 1, 2026, compliance deadline so these issues could be resolved. We voiced concerns about the additional burdens impacted providers are facing, and the significant risk of payment suspensions should they not meet the reporting deadline due to these systems issues. AHCA appreciates that CMS recognized the significance of the current issues and agreed to an indefinite compliance deadline suspension.
What Providers Should Do
- SNF providers that have not yet submitted their off-cycle provider enrollment revalidations should be on the lookout for the upcoming formal CMS announcement in the next few days. It may contain additional important details about next steps. AHCA will share that information when it becomes available.
- SNF providers that have previously submitted their provider enrollment Form CMS-855A information via PECOS or paper submission and received a request for more information to be submitted by a certain date, should still submit that requested information by the specified due date. Contact the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) provider enrollment helpdesk for further guidance if there are systems-related problems that may impact meeting the stated response deadline.
It is important to remember that the underlying SNF provider enrollment reporting policies have not changed. Every effort should be taken to assure the needed data elements regarding ownership and operational and managerial control disclosable entities and individuals are available to submit once further CMS guidance is issued.
AHCA will continue our advocacy efforts to seek more rational regulations and streamline reporting requirements, including related to the SNF provider enrollment policies. But today’s news is an encouraging step in the right direction.
Please contact the AHCA SNF provider enrollment revalidation helpdesk with any questions.
- Federal Department of Education Advisory Committee’s Recommendation on Federal Student Loan Eligibility for Nurses and other Healthcare Professionals:
You may have seen recent news stories about changes put forward by the US Department of Education’s Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Negotiated Rulemaking Committee.
This Committee convened and did not designate dozens of health care professional degrees, including advanced practice nursing, occupational therapy, and the doctor of physical therapy degrees as professional degrees. As a result, the programs will have lower loan limit caps ($20,500 annually and $100,000 total vs. $50,000 annually and $200,000 total for programs defined as professional programs). This means that many students will be subject to lower loan limits and limit their ability to afford advanced education in these in-demand health care fields.
It is important to know that these recommendations are not final, and the Department of Education will now review these recommendations before issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the future, which will be subject to public comment. After that comment period, the Department will issue its final rule for implementation. These changes are set to take effect on July 1, 2026 and will apply to new borrowers. It will not apply to existing borrowers.AHCA/NCAL are working with a coalition of national organizations that are impacted by these recommendations, due to their negative impact on health care professionals and which will exacerbate the workforce challenges facing health care organizations. For more information, be sure to read AHCA/NCAL’s November 26th Blog Post on this topic. WHCA/WiCAL will continue to support current and future health care professionals, and will coordinate with AHCA/NCAL to advocate with lawmakers in Washington to prevent these harmful recommendations from moving forward.
- Re-start of federal Civil Monetary Penalty Reinvestment Fund Grant application submission to the Wisconsin Division of Quality Assurance:
With the end of the federal government shutdown, CMS has authorized our Division of Quality Assurance (DQA ) to resume accepting Civil Monetary Penalty (CMP) Reinvestment Fund grant applications. Here’s the formal announcement from DQA:
“We are pleased to report that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today updated their CMPRP webpage with much-anticipated resources for CMPRP participation. New downloads include the “CMPRP Application Resources” file, which contains an application handbook, required application template, and required application budget spreadsheet template. Since much of the information is new, please carefully review the handbook before submitting a CMPRP application to our office.
We’re happy to provide any additional information as it becomes available.
Thank you for your patience through the pause of CMPRP activity, and for your efforts to improve the quality of care in Wisconsin’s nursing homes.
Sincerely,
Wisconsin Civil Money Penalty Reinvestment Program Team
DHSDQACMPRP@dhs.wisconsin.gov”
Please do not hesitate to contact Eric, ekoch@whcawical.org or Rick, rick@whcawical.org if we can be of further assistance on any of these important issues.
