There will be countless attempts to sum up the horror of COVID-19 — both in nursing homes and society at large — in the coming years, once we’re collectively a safe enough distance away from the peak of the crisis to process what we’ve seen and heard. We at Skilled Nursing News, like most people, […]
Skilled nursing and senior living landlord LTC Properties (NYSE: LTC) will reduce rent escalators for its tenants by 50% in 2021, the real estate investment trust (REIT) announced Thursday. The move will bring a $560,000 revenue hit to the Westlake Village, Calif.-based LTC for the first quarter of the new year, along with a $1.4 […]
The growth in U.S. spending on nursing home care lagged behind gains in overall health expenditures — as well as the increase in cash spent on care at home and in hospitals — according to the most recent update to an annual analysis of American health care costs. The United States spent a collective $172.2 […]
The federal government on Wednesday announced an expansion of the third phase of COVID-19 relief for health care providers, specifically releasing an extra $1.1 billion to nursing homes. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) decided to boost its Phase 3 funding total from $20 billion to $24 billion after determining that the initial […]
Of all the systemic flaws that led to the still-unfolding disaster in American nursing homes, the design of the buildings themselves stands among the most plainly visible. Shared rooms where residents live up to four abreast, with double occupancy still the norm in most facilities. Communal bathrooms where, in addition to suffering the indignity of […]
Despite grim numbers around COVID-19 rates and cratering occupancy in skilled nursing facilities, a variety of factors conspired to improve top operators’ lease coverage in the third quarter of 2020 — with a tentatively brighter outlook for the start of next year. An increase in skilled mix, normalization of pandemic-related costs, and the return of […]
Family members of nursing home residents can certainly be forgiven for imagining an instant return to normal after Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine received emergency approval from the federal government late Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has placed this population at the front of the line for the shots, and families have been […]
When Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL) and health system ProMedica teamed up to take over nursing home giant HCR ManorCare in 2018, the players positioned the move as a way to vertically integrate a continuum that could follow a patient from the hospital, to a skilled nursing facility, to home health. The real estate investment trust […]
A giant in the post-acute software and tech world is about to get much larger, driven by a push to break down the barriers between various settings in post-acute care. PointClickCare Technologies on Tuesday announced its pending acquisition of care coordination software firm Collective Medical, cementing a relationship between the two companies that began in […]
The federal government last week advised nursing homes that a variety of COVID-related freezes on updates to the public Nursing Home Compare database will end soon after the start of the new year. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on January 27 will update quality and health inspection metrics on the consumer-facing resource, […]
A smaller group of nursing facilities will split a larger pot of cash in the second round of the federal government’s four-part value-based competition for COVID-19 relief dollars. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday announced the pending distribution of $523 million in performance-based stimulus payments to about 9,200 nursing homes that […]
The leader of the nation’s largest lobbying and trade group for nursing homes challenged state governors to facilitate the vaccination of all residents and staff against COVID-19 by March 1, but the organization stopped short of recommending that operators require workers to take the vaccine. “If the governors and public health officials are able to […]
President-elect Joe Biden has selected Xavier Becerra, the current attorney general of California and a critic of President Trump’s nursing home policies, to helm the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the incoming administration, the New York Times reported Sunday. Prior to serving as California’s top prosecutor, Becerra represented the Los Angeles area […]
A member of a federal advisory board on Medicare policy last week recommended against a payment boost for nursing homes, concluding that despite the negative effects of COVID-19, operators have maintained steady access to capital — and generally make too high of a margin on Medicare-covered residents. “Even with increased costs, Medicare payments are more […]
Skilled nursing heavyweight The Ensign Group (Nasdaq: ENSG) last week took over operations of the Hays Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a 116-bed property in San Marcos, Texas. The deal expands the San Juan Capistrano, Calif.-based Ensign’s total portfolio to 228 properties across 13 states. “We are excited to strengthen our presence in the state of […]
The new Medicare payment model for nursing homes provided $200 more per day than the system it replaced in October 2019, according to a new analysis of claims data — setting up a revenue bump at the time the sector needed it most. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) brought an average […]
Occupancy at the nation’s skilled nursing facilities remains stalled well below pre-pandemic levels, prompting a major data provider in the space to sound alarm bells about the financial state of the space heading into a potentially devastating winter. The nation’s SNFs were 74% full during the third quarter of 2020, the National Investment Center for […]
The federal government on Tuesday finalized its proposed physician fee schedule for the 2021 calendar year, formalizing cuts to Medicare reimbursement rates for therapy services provided to residents covered under Part B — while also expanding some telehealth flexibilities offered during COVID-19. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in August floated a 9% […]
The nation’s long-term care facilities passed another grim COVID-19 milestone ahead of Thanksgiving, with experts and leaders warning that holiday gatherings over this past weekend could only set off more outbreaks in the weeks to come. The nursing home death toll passed 100,000 residents and workers as of November 24, according to a data analysis […]
The discussion of how to improve nursing homes, especially in the wake of the still-unfolding COVID-19 tragedy, tends to divide observers into two broad camps: the industry partisans who call for more collaboration from the federal government and better funding, and the sharp critics who insist regulation should primarily — if not exclusively — take […]