Bill Introduced to Make Three-Day Stay Waiver Permanent

A bill to permanently waive the three-day inpatient hospital stay requirement for Medicare coverage of a skilled nursing stay was introduced in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, an attempt to make the pandemic-related change stick around long-term. The bipartisan legislation, titled the “Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act,” was sponsored by Reps. Joe Courtney […]

Health Affairs Study Clashes with Previous Reports on Nursing Home Shortages

Public policy journal Health Affairs this month reported a modest decline in nursing home staffing levels for the majority of 2020, rather than a drastic shortage in staff suggested by various news reports over the course of the year. Taking data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Payroll Based Journal (PBJ) system, Health […]

Bedrock Purchases Six Former ManorCare Facilities in Pennsylvania

Bedrock Care Group is in full growth mode, with its recent acquisition of six ManorCare skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers in Pennsylvania; the operator plans to buy more centers within the state too. The eight-facility Royersford, Pa.-based management company announced the transaction on Tuesday, approximately doubling its employee count. With its acquisition, Bedrock now has […]

Buyers Have ‘Voracious Appetite’ for Skilled Nursing Facilities

Walker & Dunlop real estate brokers Josh Jandris and Mark Myers laid out skilled nursing industry trends they’re seeing right now, pointing to a continued frenzy of transactions — with publicly traded real estate investment trusts being the sellers and large private companies as buyers. Health care systems are divesting their skilled nursing facilities too, […]

Greystone, MONTICELLOAM Create Joint Venture Focused on Senior Housing and Health Care

Commercial real estate finance firm Greystone and fellow lender and consulting firm MONTICELLOAM on Monday announced a joint venture combining their senior housing and health care lines of business. The joint venture is expected to provide a “one-stop-shop” of capital finance products for the health care and senior housing industries, the New York-based companies said […]

Lawmakers Highlight Health Care’s Workforce Shortages, But Long-Term Care Garners Little Attention

Long-term care facilities were mentioned only briefly during a U.S. Senate hearing on Thursday concerning health care workforce shortages, before leadership turned to broader issues of primary care physician scarcity and how rural and ethnic shortages in the sector will be exacerbated by the pandemic. Early in the conversation, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a […]

COVID Forcing Skilled Nursing Operators to Re-Evaluate Strategy, Consolidation on the Rise

Skilled Nursing News was able to sit down (virtually) with Amy Kaszak, president of special needs plans for Virginia-based AllyAlign Health, to talk about current trends in the skilled nursing industry. Consolidation is on the horizon, Kaszak said, along with an increase in managed care, preventative services and home health supplemental options. AllyAlign Health was […]

For SNF Marketing Post-COVID, Transparency and Communication are Key

After more than a year of mostly bad press from the pandemic, the skilled nursing industry is looking to reframe the narrative through localized communication tactics and an open dialogue with area families. Skilled Nursing News invited Villa Healthcare’s Linsey Cherveny and Janine Finck-Boyle, vice president of regulatory affairs at Leading Age to discuss the […]

Invesque to Lower Symphony Exposure by 50%, Grow Relationship with Cascade

Invesque Inc. (TSE: IVQ.U) on Thursday updated shareholders on its continued separation from Symphony Care Network (SymCare) during its first quarter earnings call, with an intended 50 percent drop in SymCare assets long term. The Carmel, Ind.-based real estate investment firm began the first phase of its divestiture with the $20 million sale of its […]