New York City is offering free testing for COVID-19 at nursing homes after reports of difficulty accessing the tests at many skilled nursing facilities, the Associated Press reported May 20. The city will, starting next week, provide test kits and pay to process them for any of the city’s 169 nursing homes, Mayor Bill de […]
Month: May 2020
Differences in nursing homes’ federal quality ratings and profit status have no bearing on the probability of COVID-19 infections, a University of Chicago researcher said during testimony before the U.S. Senate on Thursday — but preliminary data does indicate a strong connection between race and coronavirus outbreaks. “Nursing homes are often a reflection of the […]
Despite fines not kicking in until early June, most nursing homes successfully began reporting newly required COVID-19 data to the federal government this past week. Each one of the nation’s more than 15,000 facilities faced a May 17 deadline for the first round of data reporting to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) […]
Without the funds and the resources needed to meet COVID-19 testing recommendations, the federal government’s guidance on reopening nursing homes could create more confusion for skilled nursing facilities — and more challenges on top of the considerable strain they already face in combating the spread of the illness. “At a high level, I really think […]
The nation’s largest organization representing nursing homes on Wednesday pegged the one-time cost of testing each resident and staff member in the United States at $440 million, arguing that substantially more funding for long-term care will be necessary to meet more stringent testing mandates. The American Health Care Association arrived at that figure by adding […]
The stabilized occupancy rate for nursing care fell sharply in April due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a snapshot from the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) released on Tuesday. Nursing care occupancy last month dropped 220 basis points to 84.7% from March to April in NIC’s selection […]
One day after the federal government released tentative guidance for easing visitation restrictions at the nation’s nursing homes, the CEO of one of the top providers in the space cautioned that it’s still too early to consider widespread reopening. “We expect that to continue at least for another month or two, even though there are […]
Skilled nursing telehealth provider Call9 last year became another casualty of a central tension between innovation and reality: The law often takes years to catch up to new technology. But a crisis can accelerate the glacial rule-making process, and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government erased decades of telehealth law in a matter of […]
ProMedica saw improvement in its HCR ManorCare nursing home business line during the first quarter of 2020, though the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic remains a long-term unknown for the health system. The Toledo, Ohio-based ProMedica pulled in $17.1 million in income associated with its ManorCare business to start 2020, according to its most […]
The Federal Trade Commission late last week warned operators of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities that residents’ stimulus checks cannot be counted as resources for Medicaid purposes. Citing the text of the CARES Act, the FTC affirmed that the one-time stimulus payments of up to $1,200 count as tax credits and not “resources” […]
Securing state permission to build a skilled nursing facility in Oklahoma involves a lengthy certificate-of-need (CON) process — one that has to start months in advance. And because of that length of time, one operator finds itself launching new construction amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Diakonos Group on May 14 announced the start of construction […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidelines on reopening nursing homes on Monday, with parameters around testing requirements and visitation — while emphasizing that nursing facilities will be among the last institutions that can safely reopen as the U.S. takes tentative steps toward moving out of COVID-19-induced lockdowns. CMS announced that states […]
Several weeks after vowing to pursue serious penalties against nursing homes with COVID-19 deaths, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo seemingly backed away from that threat in a Sunday press conference. Asked by a reporter about how the families of nursing home residents who died from the coronavirus can pursue justice for their loved ones, Cuomo […]
One of the first legislative packages designed to help the U.S. navigate the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic included an increase in the federal matching funds for state Medicaid programs during the emergency period related to the coronavirus. And a second major aid package under debate would go even further to increase federal dollars for […]
As deaths in the state’s nursing homes mounted, and calls for action grew louder, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week issued an aggressive executive order requiring facilities to test all staffers for COVID-19 twice per week — under the threat of license revocation and penalties that start at $2,000 and jump to $10,000 per […]
The federal government on Thursday unveiled the nomination process for a recently announced commission on nursing home safety in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic — but interested parties have only until May 22 to throw their hats in the ring. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has partnered with an independent contractor, […]
Staffing shortages were a problem for skilled nursing facilities well before the current national emergency, but COVID-19’s behavior has exacerbated the challenges. Asymptomatic workers who moved from facility to facility — and who, by nature of their work, from patient to patient — were a major part of the reason the Life Care Center of […]
As more and more states roll out aggressive COVID-19 testing plans for nursing homes, operators have claimed that they can’t meet the goals — such as a New York edict to test all staff twice per week — without significant help from the government. Calls for mandatory testing from the White House remain only recommendations, […]
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Seema Verma on Thursday confirmed that newly required COVID-19 data will eventually appear on Nursing Home Compare, with the first public information expected to be released by the end of this month. “Ultimately, it will go on Nursing Home Compare, so that people can look up the […]
Harborview Capital Partners arranged a $32.4 million Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 232/223(f) loan for the refinancing of a 210-bed skilled nursing facility for the Chicago-based operator Legacy Healthcare. The loan features a 35-year term and “amortization at an extremely aggressive rate,” according to a statement announcing the deal. Ephraim Kutner, Jonathan […]
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