<\/strong>New policy means that regulators can impose either per-day or per-instance penalties<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n <\/b><\/p>\n <\/b><\/p>\n FRIDAY, July 30, 2021 (HealthDay News) — The Biden administration has reversed a Trump policy that limited the size of fines that U.S. nursing homes could be slapped with for violating safety standards.<\/p>\n The Trump policy was adopted in 2017 and prevented the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from hitting a nursing home with a fine for each day it did not comply with federal standards. That reduced many penalties to a single fine, lowering total amounts from hundreds of thousands of dollars to a maximum of $22,000, The New York Times<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n Many nursing homes cited for violations such as poor infection controls, not protecting residents from avoidable accidents, neglect, mistreatment, and bedsores, are repeat offenders, according to Toby Edelman, a senior policy attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy. Larger fines are a deterrent and are more likely to indicate strong enforcement of the rules, Edelman told The Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n In early July, the Biden administration changed guidance on the CMS website, saying it had “determined that the agency should retain the discretion at this time to impose a per-day penalty where appropriate to address specific circumstances of prior noncompliance.” The new policy means that regulators can impose either per-day or per-instance penalties, The Times<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n