A pair of bills that would increase protections for long-term care (LTC) residents advanced through the House Rules committee this week, and the American Osteopathic Association has launched a campaign in support of "truth in advertising in health care."
Representative Quang Nquyen (R-Prescott) introduced HB 2653, which would allow...
Last week, legislators returned to the Capitol for the start of the 2024 Arizona Legislative Session and Governor Katie Hobbs gave her annual State of the State address.
Lawmakers have a significant challenge before them when it comes to balancing the budget this year, as the state is projected to end the fiscal year this summer in...
Nursing home industry representatives and advocates for the aging are raising alarms that long-term care facilities are falling far behind in their vaccinations ahead of the winter respiratory virus season.
Arizona was dead last in overall vaccination rates as of September with only 43.5% of residents up to date on their vaccinations,...
As the nursing home industry pushes back on the Biden administration's proposal for mandatory federal staffing minimums, a new study suggests the U.S. may want to pivot away from recruitment and towards staffing retention in order to stabilize staffing rates.
Last month, Medicare proposed a new rule that would require long-term care...
On June 29, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) updated its guidance on requirements for long-term care facilities on staffing levels, arbitration, infection prevention and the administration of certain medications. The agency attributed the guidance to President Joe Biden's efforts to improve nursing home safety and is...
Following the devastating report from the Arizona Auditor General in May, Arizona lawmakers held ADHS interim director Don Herrington's feet to the fire for nearly three hours last Thursday, searching for answers to the damning questions raised by the report.
The Arizona Department of Health Services is accused of not following...
As nursing homes across the country are grappling with staff shortages exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration is considering a rule that nursing homes spend most of their Medicaid payments on direct care for residents rather than operations or capital improvements.
According to Modern Healthcare, the rule would...
Calls for an end to the formal declaration of public health emergency (PHE) related to the COVID-19 pandemic are gaining traction in the lull following the surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths related to the Omicron variant. Nursing homes are only just now required to demonstrate full vaccination of all staff members, and...
This week Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey vetoed a bill that would have allowed the board that regulates leadership at long-term care facilities to continue. Ducey wants to transfer those responsibilities to the Arizona Department of Health Services instead.
Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association, said,
For...Arizona News
Arizona researchers are encouraging policy makers to enact strict orders in order to curb what may become a catastrophic burden on hospital capacities, but Governor Ducey and members of Congress have not yet heeded those suggestions. Additionally, long-term care facilities are reporting extremely high rates of illness and death among...Arizona News
Across the country, COVID-19 cases and subsequent hospitalizations are leaving hospitals short-staffed and without enough space to care for patients. In Arizona, in both cities and rural areas, these issues are no different, compounded by winter visitors to the state and general increase in hospitalizations due to seasonal...National News
Providers may use the authority of special needs plans within the MA program to focus on increasing enrollment for their specific types of patients and residents.
Long-term care (LTC) provider-led special needs plans (SNPs) increased from 76 plans in 2020 to 98 plans in 2021. According to ATI Advisory,which released the data on...Arizona News
Providers are grappling with how to provide care for a virus with a myriad of uncertainties still looming. Several states are moving to protect healthcare facilities from lawsuits related to coronavirus care, including Arizona.
The coronavirus is wreaking havoc on long-term care facilities where vulnerable populations live in...Arizona News
The spread of coronavirus in nursing homes has yielded disturbing death tolls among residents and a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine confirms people infected with the virus are contributing to the spread without displaying any symptoms.
The study concludes that "rapid and...National News
Long-term and post-acute care providers, including skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) are unable to implement the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) value-based payment model without more advanced IT and technology support, according to a survey.
The survey of 1,640 long-term and post-acute care providers led by Black...
