CMS on Friday issued a final rule for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), which will increase their payments by 2.7% or $904 million dollars in fiscal year (FY) 2023, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Connecticut, Maryland, and New York.

• Connecticut: Edgewell Personal Care Company, which manufactures Banana Boat sunscreen, last week voluntarily recalled several batches of its Banana Boat Hair & Scalp Sunscreen Spray SPF 30 after an internal review discovered trace amounts of benzene, a chemical that can cause cancer. According to the company, the benzene was not detected in the sunscreen spray itself, but in the propellant that sprays the product from the can. "Importantly, no other batches of Hair & Scalp (either before or after the impacted production batches) and no other Banana Boat products are in the scope of this recall and may continue to be used by consumers safely and as intended," an Edgewell spokesperson said. "We are conducting this voluntary recall out of an abundance of caution," the spokesperson added. The affected products had expiration dates for December 2022, February 2023, and April 2024, and can be identified by lot codes at the bottom of the can—a full list of which is available on FDA's website. Edgewell recommends consumers stop using recalled products immediately and said it will reimburse anyone who purchased the products. (Miranda, NPR, 7/31)

• Maryland: CMS on Friday issued a final rule to update the SNF prospective payment system for FY 2023. Under the rule, FY 2023 payments to SNFs will increase by 2.7%, or $904 million, compared with FY 2022. This figure includes a 3.9% market basket update, a 1.5 percentage-point market basket forecast error adjustment, and a 0.3 percentage-point productivity cut. According to Modern Healthcare, the final rule changes course from CMS' proposed rule from April. CMS had proposed a 4.6% parity adjustment offset to achieve budget neutrality in the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM), which would have resulted in a decrease of approximately $320 million in Medicare Part A payments to SNFs in FY 2023 compared with FY 2022. Instead, CMS will implement a 2.3% parity adjustment offset in FY 2023, phasing in the 4.6% offset over two years. "We greatly appreciate an overall increase to the Medicare program this coming fiscal year to help stabilize the profession and ensure our vulnerable residents have access to necessary, quality care," said Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living. (AHA News, 7/29; Goldman, Modern Healthcare, 7/29)

• New York: The Mount Sinai Hospital last month promoted Jonathan Kyriacou to COO, according to a staff memo from David Reich, president of the hospital as well as Mount Sinai Queens. Kyriacou joined the Mount Sinai health system in 2011 and most recently served as VP of hospital operations for The Mount Sinai Hospital. (Gooch, Becker's Hospital Review, 7/28)