A new study shows that nursing homes are hiding the bulk of their profits in order to bolster arguments for increased funding despite being unable to meet proposed quality standards or accept Medicare payment cuts.
The study, Tunneling and Hidden Profits in Health Care, was conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles...Arizona News
Arizona's healthcare regulatory boards are under scrutiny following an ABC15 investigation that led to a bill's amendment.
At a House Health Committee meeting in February, Representative Selena Bliss (R-Prescott) told fellow legislators that she introduced HB 2686 in order to increase transparency from Arizona's health boards and...
Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized a rule that would define private equity and real estate investment trusts as they relate to nursing home ownership, a step forward in the Biden administration's plans to improve quality of care in nursing homes and scrutinize nursing home ownership...
Lawmakers are now joining the side of nursing homes in calling on the Biden administration to reconsider its proposed mandatory federal staffing minimums for nursing facilities.
Industry stakeholders and other concerned groups have until November 6, 2023 to submit comment letters to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services...
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...
Earlier this month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the proposed rule for nursing home federal staffing minimums and guidelines. The proposed rule was rebuffed by the nursing home industry and related stakeholders, as the nursing home workforce is already depleted due to the pandemic exacerbating an already...
Although their work typically requires considerable technical and interpersonal skills, they receive wages that are lower than other entry-level jobs such as janitors, retail salespersons, and customer representatives with rarely any benefits.
A new report from the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) highlights the...
It looks like the Biden administration will fall short on its promise to institute federal staffing minimums for nursing homes after a new study by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) commissioned to determine the appropriate level of staffing made no recommendations.
Instead, the study said, there were no staffing...
Earlier this month the Supreme Court ruled nursing home residents and their families can sue publicly-owned nursing homes, siding with the plaintiff in Health and Hospital Corp. of Marion County, Indiana v. Talevski.
The court upheld a 7th Circuit ruling against Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County (HHC) regarding a case...National News
Nursing homes are decrying the severity of the nursing workforce shortage as the minimum staffing proposal looms large.
More than 500 nursing home providers joined a protest on Capitol Hill this week to sound the alarm on legislation that could implement a minimum staffing measure for nursing homes. According to Skilled Nursing News,...
Beginning next week, every skilled nursing facility in the country will undergo a five-claim audit as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) aims to get improper payments under control. Meanwhile, nursing homes are expressing concern about the effects that Medicaid redeterminations and subsequent disenrollment's could have...
While America waits for the outcome of debt ceiling negotiations between the U.S. House of Representatives leadership and President Joe Biden, the rest of Congress is underway addressing some of the criticisms of nursing home care and pharmacy benefit managers.
The Senate Special Committee on Aging posted a new report demonstrating...
Today is the last day of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), and policies are rapidly shifting to accommodate the post-pandemic healthcare landscape in the U.S.
On Tuesday, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced that it would continue allowances for telehealth companies to prescribe controlled substances for six...
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden signed a massive executive order aimed at senior care, long-term care facilities and home caregiving. The order also included provisions for child care and early childhood education.
The long-term care sector has struggled with workforce shortages that predate the COVID-19 pandemic but were exacerbated...
On Monday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed the FY 2024 Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Payment Prospective Systems (PPS) rates. It includes an increase of 3.7%, or $1.2 billion in Medicare Part A payments to SNFs.
The rate increase reflects a 6.1% market basket update to the payment rates comprised of a...
In December, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule that would require all health plans, including Medicare Advantage plans, to limit prior authorization deliberations to seven days. On Monday, the public comment for that rule closed.
Many providers believed that the rule doesn't go far enough,...
Nursing homes continue to experience the worst job loss of any other healthcare sector according to new analysis from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), but Congress is cautioning against the use of skilled nursing facility (SNF) staffing minimums planned by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Also, CMS is working to...
Last week, the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) published findings in a review of Medicaid payment rates for nursing facility services across states and found major inconsistencies in reimbursement.
Nursing facilities are payed through base payments, which are usually per diem, and supplemental payments, paid...National News
Nursing facility operators are finding optimism in the new year, following two years of unprecedented staffing challenges and constricting cost increases.
The intensity of concerns regarding the staffing issues is beginning to recede although cost concerns related to inflation remain, according to the McKnight's 2023 Outlook Survey....
The U.S. has a new dominant COVID-19 variant, XBB.1.5, which is reportedly twenty-five times as contagious as the original strain of coronavirus. Meanwhile, seniors and people of color bear the burden of high rates of transmission and death as a result of the virus.
New research demonstrates that the death toll of COVID-19 in...