Medicare and Medicaid Program; Appeal of the Loss of Nurse Aide Training Programs

This interim final rule revises current Medicare and Medicaid regulations to provide participating nursing facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and dually participating nursing facilities an opportunity for an evidentiary hearing before an administrative law judge to challenge a facility's loss of its approved nurse aide training program. This rule also amends Medicaid regulations to permit States to provide evidentiary hearings for facilities that participate only in the Medicaid program and that face a loss of their nurse aide training programs. Previous regulations have provided only for an informal hearing when facilities lose training programs and do not otherwise face enforcement remedies under the Medicare and Medicaid programs.