Inside Health Policy: Beneficiary Groups Concerned CMS’ Nursing Home Guidance Could Lower Penalties [Article unavailable online] (8/23/17) New nursing home guidance issued by CMS in July includes two major penalty exceptions that concern beneficiary advocates. The exceptions sanction per-instance, instead of per-day, penalties for facilities with good compliance histories and situations where a single isolated incident causes harm to a resident. According to Justice in Aging’s Eric Carlson, per-day penalties provide erring nursing home with incentive to correct compliance issues and reduce noncompliance issues. He expects that nursing homes, under the new guidance, will face more per-instance penalties, instead of large, accumulating per-day penalties. “I’ve certainly seen situations in the past where a facility is willing to pay the penalty as a fee for doing business,” Carlson said.