The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has extended the moratorium on home health agencies and ambulance services operating in eight metro areas to reduce the risk of fraud, waste and abuse, CMS said.
The moratorium bars new home health agencies and ambulance providers from enrolling Medicare, Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program beneficiaries.
The moratorium was filed with the Federal Register on Feb. 2, and is effective for an additional six months from Jan. 29, in seven geographic areas in Michigan, Illinois, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania.
New home healthcare agencies, sub-units and branch locations will not be allowed in the areas of Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Houston and Miami.
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New Medicare Part B ambulance suppliers will continue to be barred in the Houston and Philadelphia areas.
The cities have been under the moratoria since 2013.
The enrollment moratoria extension signals that the potential for fraud, waste, and abuse continues to exist in these areas, CMS said. Such moratoria provisions were authorized by the Affordable Care Act.
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On Monday, CMS also released an interactive map of two public datasets on ambulance suppliers and home health agencies.
"By introducing data mapping for these specific, high-risk providers and suppliers in the moratoria areas and, for the first time, making service area data on all other FFS (fee-for-service) providers and suppliers publicly available, analyses of the data offers additional insight for CMS and its stakeholders," said CMS Deputy Administrator and Center for Program Integrity Director Dr. Shantanu Agrawal.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse