MarketWatch Shines a Light on Diversicare Acquirer Lahasky

Even skilled nursing industry insiders may not know a whole lot about the investor who recently bought Diversicare Healthcare Services properties – Ephram “Mordy” Lahasky. The private investor doesn’t maintain a corporate website and has “largely avoided reporters for years,” according to a MarketWatch article published Wednesday. MarketWatch spoke with Lahasky for its story; Skilled […]

Consolidation Causes SNF Not-for-Profits to Exit Space as Lending Market Heats Up

Bank and finance company executives have found skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) to not only be increasingly changing hands in the last year, but are also changing from a tax-exempt, not-for-profit status to a for-profit facility. That’s according to commentary collected during an executive survey published by speciality investment bank Ziegler and the National Investment Center […]

SNF Architecture Firms Meet the Moment with Single-Occupancy Builds

Some design firms that cater to the skilled nursing community have not built traditional, more institutional nursing homes for some time, steering clients toward single-occupancy, small home models. For firms like Roanoke, Va.-based SFCS Architects, the Biden administration’s call to promote private rooms in the nursing home industry meets the moment and plans for future […]

White House Throws Its Weight Behind SNF Value-Based Purchasing Expansion, with Staffing Measures Targeted

The value-based purchasing program (VBP) available to skilled nursing facilities, while garnering the attention of the Biden administration in its sweeping reform initiatives, was already under the microscope with federal agencies. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) already has been authorized to apply nine measures to the program in adherence with the Consolidated […]

Streamlined Value Incentive Program Matches CMS Desire to Consolidate Value-Based Care

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC)’s value incentive program (VIP) seeks to standardize the many value-based purchasing programs that are available to different care settings, including skilled nursing. In its most recent report on Medicare payment policy, MedPAC devoted a chapter to the design of a VIP for post-acute care (PAC) in order to highlight […]

Nursing Home Staff Vaccine Rates Promising Ahead of CMS Deadline, But Boosters May Be a ‘Step Too Far’

As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccine mandate deadline looms this week, nursing homes across the country have stepped up to get their staff vaccinated in time – while still lagging on booster numbers. Nearly 85% of nursing home staff per facility are vaccinated, according to CMS data, and 87.3% of residents […]

Senior Care Executives Have High Hopes for Operating Margins While Expenses Still Impede Growth

Industry leaders, including nursing home executives, believe margins will increase between 1% and 5% in the next six months, thanks to an easing pandemic and occupancy recovery. Only 5% of long-term care leaders expect their margins to decrease during that time, according to the latest National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) executive […]

No Innovation Without Compensation: SNFs Need Federal Support to Realize Biden’s Private Room Plans

Movement at the state and federal level has prompted an expedited shift to more private settings in nursing homes. While the trend isn’t entirely new for the industry, the push from government agencies to make it a compliance issue has garnered mixed reactions. The Biden administration called for reduced room crowding in nursing homes in […]

CMS in ‘Full Court Sprint’ to Carry Out Biden’s Nursing Home Reforms

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is in a “full court sprint” toward fulfilling the Biden administration’s proposed nursing home reforms first announced last week, CMS Principal Deputy Administrator Jonathan Blum said during a stakeholder call on Thursday. Twenty-one initiatives across five strategic goals will have short-, mid- and long-term timelines for implementation, […]

No Viable Path for Many SNFs to Improve, Avoid Penalties in Value-Based Purchasing

The value-based purchasing program (VBP) may not be offering sufficient incentives for nursing homes to improve, particularly for low-performing facilities in areas with underserved populations. Only 0.7% of poor-performing skilled nursing facilities were able to improve enough to avoid a financial penalty under VBP, a JAMA study found – the program didn’t “offer a viable […]

Nursing Homes Add 1,600 Jobs in February as Occupancy Recovery Crawls

Nursing homes gained 1,600 jobs in February, a modest increase compared to home health and physician offices at 20,000 and 15,000, respectively, according to data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The sector added 3,800 hires from December 2021 to January 2022, BLS data found. To put this data in perspective, nursing […]

‘Price Gouging’ Leads More Nursing Homes to Launch In-House Staffing Agencies

Facing skyrocketing agency rates, long-term care providers have taken it upon themselves to launch in-house agency services to meet an increasing demand for flexibility among a dwindling number of staff. Operators market the business line as the “best of both worlds,” Eileen Caffey told Skilled Nursing News – additional pay, experience in different care settings […]

ProMedica Posts $275.3M Senior Care Division Loss in 2021, Expects Slowed Occupancy Recovery

While other ProMedica divisions have seen near pre-pandemic recovery, its senior care division patient volumes – which includes skilled nursing assets – are needing more time to recover. A combination of Covid-related admission volume declines, elevated expense levels and reduced government stimulus funds all played a role in stymied recovery last year, the Toledo, Ohio-based […]

Indiana SNF Invests in School Partnerships, Culture to Bolster Staff Amid Fierce Wage Competition

Close relationships with local educational institutions – colleges and high schools included – and a reinvented company culture five years in the making have helped Indiana operator Providence Health Care at the Woods recruit and retain staff. Providence president and CEO Mandy Lynch and Jessica Zook, director of health information, shared details on these initiatives […]

How Nursing Homes Can Strategize to Fill Shifts Amid Overtime, Burnout and Agency Use Concerns

Facing mounting agency costs and a continuing workforce crisis, skilled nursing operators are having to be strategic in what staffing options to embrace and which to avoid. A workforce survey report published in December by software company OnShift found 76% of senior care organizations, including nursing homes, often rely on overtime to fill shifts. It’s […]

[UPDATED] White House Unveils Major Nursing Home Reform Package, Targets Private Equity Ownership

The Biden administration rolled out a comprehensive set of intended nursing home reforms on Monday to “crack down on bad actors.” The White House zeroed in on setting minimum staffing requirements and took aim at private equity ownership of nursing homes, among several other priorities and provisions in its plan. Steps toward reform were developed […]

Private Rooms Kickstart Shift to Home-Like Setting for Nonprofit SNF Operator A.G. Rhodes

Georgia nursing home provider A.G. Rhodes will make private rooms a requirement for future builds at its three campuses, a plan 10 years in the making and further propelled by the pandemic. Just this month, the nonprofit operator announced a $35 million plan to transform its Marietta campus to include private rooms through new construction […]