ProMedica ‘Ecstatic’ Over Vaccine Effectiveness, But Rollout Won’t Be Silver Bullet for Nursing Homes

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 […]

ProMedica Senior Care’s Parker Sees Growth Ahead — Even as ‘Major Disruption’ Looms for Industry in Early ’21

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 […]

PointClickCare to Buy Collective Medical in $650M Deal as COVID Exposes Flaws of Post-Acute Silos

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 […]

CMS to Resume Updates to Nursing Home Compare, Special Focus Facilities List in January

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, […]

HHS Awards $523 Million in Second Round of Value-Based COVID Relief for Nursing Homes

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 […]

Parkinson to Govs: Vaccinate All Nursing Home Residents and Staff by March 1, But No Employee Mandates Yet

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 […]

Biden Nominates California Attorney General Becerra for HHS Secretary

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 […]

MedPAC: Nursing Homes on Solid Financial Ground Despite COVID, Medicare Boost ‘Poor Approach’

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 […]

Berkadia Closes $40M in Skilled Nursing Deals; Ensign Expands Again in Texas

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 […]

NIC: Stalled Skilled Nursing Occupancy of 74% ‘Threatens Long-Term Survival’ of Facilities

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 […]

CMS Finalizes Proposed Cuts to Medicare Part B Therapy Services for 2021, Expands Telehealth Coverage

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% […]

Long-Term Care COVID Deaths Top 100K as Post-Holiday Coronavirus Surge Looms

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 […]

Former CMS Chief: Feds Must Reimagine Nursing Home Enforcement with Sharper Sticks — and Smarter Carrots

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 […]

CMS to Retire Old Nursing Home Compare Site on December 1

The end is near for the older version of the federal government’s primary consumer-focused nursing home resource. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will formally phase out its eight original Compare tools — including Nursing Home Compare — on December 1 in favor of its new unified Care Compare site. CMS unveiled the […]

OIG to Probe Improper Nursing Home Discharges, Evictions

The federal government’s top health care watchdog last week announced a plan to investigate whether nursing homes are following rules around discharges, specifically citing media reports about improper evictions from facilities. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) added a probe of facility-initiated discharges to its formal work […]

COVID Outbreaks in Nursing Homes Accelerate Premature Deaths from Other Causes

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in nursing home deaths caused by other factors, a new analysis performed on behalf of the Associated Press has determined. Every two coronavirus deaths in nursing homes were associated with an additional premature death for another reason, University of California, San Francisco professor Stephen Kaye determined […]

CMS Issues Holiday Guidance for Nursing Homes: No Visitation Changes, Leaving Facilities Discouraged

The federal government on Wednesday issued an alert to nursing home operators and residents, urging extreme caution during the impending holiday season — and compelling providers to warn families about the risks of taking residents out of facilities for off-site gatherings. Notably, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will not change its rules […]

Sabra: Genesis, Signature Not Alone in COVID-19 Troubles, But Wider Write-Down Trend Unlikely

General improvements in access to testing and vital protective gear have put skilled nursing facilities in a better spot than the springtime, a top landlord in the space asserted Tuesday, but operators and investors shouldn’t necessarily expect complete adoption of a long-awaited vaccine when it hits the market. And although Sabra Health Care REIT (Nasdaq: […]

Parkinson: ‘Worst Fears Have Come True’ as Nursing Home COVID Cases Hit New Record, Operators ‘Powerless’ to Stop Trend Alone

The number of positive COVID-19 cases in nursing homes reached a new weekly record at the start of this month as the novel coronavirus continues to expand unchecked in various parts of the country, according to a new analysis from a leading industry trade group. Nursing homes logged 10,279 confirmed cases among residents during the […]