The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) last week made a small policy change that could have a major beneficial impact for skilled nursing providers that rely on Medicaid. CMS updated its guidance for the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), indefinitely extending a key workaround for states that base Medicaid rates on the existing Medicare […]
Greystone on Wednesday announced the closing of a $58.8 million refinance loan for a skilled nursing facility in Southampton, N.Y. The 35-year loan was originated under the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 232 program, which allows investors and operators to refinance existing debt into non-recourse loans with lower fixed interest rates. The 280-bed […]
Big-picture thinkers in the skilled nursing space have increasingly talked about the need for operators to band together in the face of reimbursement pressures and new payment models — an urge that goes against the competitive nature of the health care industry, particularly in markets saturated with multiple post-acute options. But according to Plante Moran […]
Massachusetts, which has already endured a wave of skilled nursing closures amid tight Medicaid reimbursements, could see 35 more buildings shut their doors without timely intervention from lawmakers, according to a leading trade group in the state. The Bay State has already lost 20 nursing facilities in the last year, according to the Massachusetts Senior […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday finalized new guidance that will allow Medicare Advantage plans to expand coverage of telehealth services. Beginning in plan year 2020, Medicare Advantage providers can include telehealth services as part of their basic benefits to enrollees, moving remote doctor visits from an optional add-on to a […]
Eight skilled nursing facilities in Wisconsin operated by Dycora Transitional Health and Living have been placed into receivership, with an affiliate of landlord Golden Living Centers taking back control after a two-year break. The Fresno, Calif.-based Dycora on Thursday became the latest entrant in a string of receivership actions in Wisconsin, with the Milwaukee County […]
A nearly two-year-long case involving close to $1 billion in fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid billings came to a close this week with a slew of guilty verdicts in a Miami courtroom. A 12-person jury found former skilled nursing and assisted living executive Philip Esformes guilty of 20 charges, the Miami Herald and other sources reported […]
Length of stay and readmission rates have risen to the top of most skilled nursing providers’ top watch lists, as pressure to lower both has increasingly affected their shot at appropriate reimbursements and slots in key partnerships. But a new study from New York University’s School of Medicine found that the readmission risk for certain […]
Amid a major restructuring with one of its primary tenants, Senior Housing Properties Trust (NYSE: SNH) is looking to shed up to $900 million worth of its assets — with standalone skilled nursing facilities in the crosshairs. The Newton, Mass.-based real estate investment trust (REIT) earlier this week announced a overhaul of its longstanding relationship […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week announced a 2.5% boost to overall Medicare Advantage payment rates — but the news isn’t likely to bring relief to skilled nursing operators struggling with low MA reimbursements. That 2.5% rate gain in 2020 represents a bigger gain than the 1.59% increase that the agency […]
CareTrust REIT (Nasdaq: CTRE) on Tuesday announced the successful completion of a $211 million deal that saw 12 properties change hands and two operators expand their portfolios in the South. The San Clemente, Calif.-based real estate investment trust (REIT) picked up seven skilled nursing facilities, along with an eighth SNF/assisted living campus, in Louisiana. Management […]
Despite industry headwinds, analyses have found that the nationwide supply of nursing home beds falls far below potential demand for the services — a trend that will only worsen as changing payment models knock some providers out of the business entirely. Writing in a commentary piece last week, Cain Brothers director Taaha Shaikh claimed that […]
]With the increased premium placed on preventing rehospitalizations from skilled nursing facilities, timely interventions from a doctor can potentially make a major difference. Between 2012 and 2014, about 10.4% of residents did not see a physician at all during their time in the skilled nursing facility, according to a study published Monday in the journal […]
With a new Medicare payment model for skilled nursing facilities just months away, operators who haven’t started planning for the changes are already months behind. Skilled Nursing News has been reporting on the new Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) since the day it was announced last July 31, and we’ve spent those eight months speaking to […]
A federal bankruptcy court this week approved a settlement agreement between Sabra Health Care REIT (Nasdaq: SBRA) and embattled tenant Senior Care Centers, the real estate investment trust (REIT) announced Friday. Under the terms of the deal, the Irvine, Calif.-based Sabra will receive $9.5 million from the bankrupt operator. Of that amount, Senior Care Centers […]
A federal judge this week ordered that a long-running lawsuit against the government over Medicare skilled nursing benefits must go to trial, citing the very real risk that residents have been wrongly denied coverage. U.S. District Judge Michael Shea rejected the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) request to dismiss the class action suit, […]
The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society has sold a pair of skilled nursing facilities to for-profit industry leader The Ensign Group (Nasdaq: ENSG), Skilled Nursing News has learned, marking the latest in a series of recent dispositions by the non-profit provider. The two properties in Mesa and Peoria, Ariz., branded as Good Shepherd, will be […]
Pressured by already light coffers and razor-thin margins, skilled nursing facilities could see an even wider gulf grow between top and bottom performers under the new Medicare payment model. That’s at least according to Cain Brothers director Taaha Shaikh, who this week wrote a commentary calling the coming Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) “the next great […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Wednesday announced an open challenge to tech providers, dangling $1 million for the algorithms that can best predict potential admissions to skilled nursing and other health facilities. With the Artificial Intelligence Health Outcomes Challenge, CMS hopes to entice tech firms and individuals to compete against each […]
Despite the second straight year of declines in overall recoveries, the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) top watchdog arm took back nearly $50 million in Medicaid reimbursements from nursing homes in fiscal 2018. The HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) this week reported a haul of $48.7 million from nursing providers accused […]
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