Members of a prominent Senate committee on Friday released a scathing report on emergency preparedness in the nation’s nursing homes, accusing both operators and the federal government of failing residents during storms and other disasters. Compiled by the Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Finance, the report — titled “Sheltering in Danger” — specifically […]
The Ensign Group (Nasdaq: ENSG) turned in yet another positive quarter, seeing occupancy gains throughout its skilled nursing portfolio and planning future growth — but with an eye toward selectivity. The Mission Viejo, Calif.-based operator logged skilled occupancy of 77.3% in the third quarter of 2018, an increase of 165 basis points over the previous […]
A staffing software provider aimed at long-term care operators on Thursday announced an injection of $10.8 million in additional funding as it attempts to expand beyond its current four-state footprint. The Quincy, Mass.-based IntelyCare raised the funds in a Series A round led by Leerink Revelation Partners, along with Longmeadow Capital, LRV Health, and former […]
For families of nursing facility residents, being able to remotely monitor their loved ones can bring peace of mind during a difficult period. But for skilled nursing operators, families installing cameras in sensitive areas can open the door to a variety of legal problems — including the violation of federal wiretapping laws. Only 11 states […]
The headlines in the immediate wake of the blockbuster $4.4 billion ProMedica-HCR ManorCare deal haven’t been positive, but executives from Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL) on Tuesday were upbeat about the progress so far — even if they didn’t dig too far into the details. Welltower chief investment officer Shankh Mitra said the real estate investment […]
A leading national publication on Tuesday rolled out a new set of nursing home rankings, with a particular focus on how the nation’s providers stack up on short-term rehabilitation stays. U.S. News & World Report has produced its Best Nursing Homes list since 2009, offering an alternative to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ […]
CareTrust Buys Another ManorCare Building for $4.75M CareTrust REIT (Nasdaq: CTRE) on Monday announced the purchase of The Meadows on University, a skilled nursing facility in Fargo, N.D. formerly owned by HCR ManorCare. The 110-bed SNF sold for $4.75 million, including transaction costs, and marked the second installment of a two-part deal between the real […]
An extended battle between a now-defunct nursing home operator and the state of Maryland reached a conclusion this week with a $2.2 million settlement. Neiswanger Management Services (NMS) agreed to pay that amount to dismiss allegations that it had improperly discharged Medicare residents and falsely billed the state’s Medicaid program, Maryland Medical Assistance. Back in […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Friday unveiled a proposal that the agency says will expand telehealth coverage to enrollees in Medicare Advantage plans. Under the proposed rule, which would take effect in calendar year 2020, Medicare Advantage plans could cover telehealth services for both rural and urban enrollees, as well as in-home […]
Increases in long-term care costs contributed to an overall boost in Medicaid spending during fiscal 2018, and a leading health policy non-profit warns that 2019 could be a pivotal year for the program. “FY 2019 will be a year to watch how Medicaid’s role evolves on the ground in the 50 states and D.C.,” the […]
With less than a year to go before the Patient-Driven Payment Model takes effect, skilled nursing providers must move beyond the planning stages and get into the facility-level details that will make or break them under the new model. On a webinar hosted by Skilled Nursing News and software provider Optima Healthcare Solutions last week, […]
Skilled nursing providers now have a new public set of nationwide quality benchmarks to see how their facilities stack up. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Wednesday publicly released its Quality Reporting Program (QRP) data for skilled nursing facilities, listing five key measures derived from both assessments and claims. Available on the […]
The Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) has gobbled up most of the recent headlines in the skilled nursing industry regarding new regulations, but there’s another set of rules that providers shouldn’t forget about. The industry remains in the thick of the new Requirements of Participation, which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will finish […]
Staffing costs remain a top concern for skilled nursing providers, and a new report shows that salary growth for key rehabilitation employees in the long-term care space has lagged slightly behind other care settings. In general, long-term care providers reported slower pay increases for the 12 months ended June 2018, according to the latest rehab […]
Investors frequently point to “headline risk” as a reason to beware the skilled nursing space, typically referring to the kinds of negative press that arise due to natural disasters and lapses in care for vulnerable seniors. But a top executive at the nation’s largest skilled nursing real estate investment trust (REIT) says the prolonged staffing […]
Nursing home providers typically operate on razor-thin margins, but a new study suggests that the Medicaid program may be overpaying operators by billions of dollars per year. A pair of economists from the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Georgia this month published an extensive analysis of Medicaid spending in nursing homes, […]
Over the last half-decade, there have been two consistent and opposing trends in the skilled nursing world: Occupancy keeps declining as seniors find other options for long-term care, but bed prices have kept steadily chugging upwards. And while there are solid reasons for those seemingly counterintuitive threads, there are questions in the operational and investment […]
New research from the University of Illinois at Chicago suggests that residents in for-profit nursing homes have the highest risk of receiving neglect-related diagnoses, and its authors claim the industry needs stronger oversight across all facility types. The team, led by Lee Friedman of UIC’s School of Public Health, looked at the records of about […]
Fresh off a major restructuring effort with key tenant Signature HealthCARE, the CEO of Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI) had a decidedly sunny outlook for the skilled nursing industry’s short-term future — as well as Signature’s. “We’ll look three years out,” Taylor Pickett said of his company’s restructuring strategy during a panel discussion at the […]
The workforce crisis in skilled nursing can often seem like a problem without an immediate solution: There are only so many qualified workers in any given area, and with unemployment at record lows, competition for competent candidates hasn’t been this fierce in a generation. Plus, with reimbursement and regulatory pressures, skilled nursing operators often don’t […]