The Medicare Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) program, which distributed its first round of incentives and penalties on October 1 of last year, has a goal of rewarding high-quality skilled nursing care by tying Medicare payments to performance. In that round, almost three-quarters of SNFs saw penalties. And a new study published this month in the journal […]
The largest skilled nursing provider in Florida moved to bolster its diagnostic capabilities with an eye toward reducing costly hospital readmissions. Consulate Health Care late last month announced a partnership agreement with TridentUSA Health Services to provide radiology, ultrasound, and laboratory services to Consulate’s senior care facilities across the U.S. The terms of the deal […]
In the wake of multiple skilled nursing facility closures in the state, legislators in South Dakota on Monday moved to relax rules that govern the process of redistributing licensed nursing home beds. The Jamestown Sun first reported the news. The Interim Rules Review Committee of the Legislature voted unanimously in favor of the changes, which […]
Under the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), reimbursement for Medicare Part A patients in skilled nursing facilities will be driven by patient condition, rather than by therapy minutes provided to that patient. It’s a change that the industry has hailed as an opportunity to receive financial credit for the care that they’re already providing, but they […]
Several states across the U.S. have eyed managed long-term services and supports as a way to reduce their Medicaid spend, but the state of New York — which made the move in the early part of the decade — is now taking a step back. Specifically, the Empire State is looking to move the long-term […]
The skilled nursing world has seen its share of bankruptcies over the last few years, and this past week a vendor with a heavy concentration in the space blamed the industry’s woes for its own filing. Joerns, a private-equity owned company that makes medical equipment, began Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings late last month, citing post-acute […]
The state of Oklahoma has had the dubious distinction of ranking near the bottom in both Medicaid reimbursement for skilled nursing facilities and in the quality of care provided at those facilities. But legislation recently enacted by the Sooner State aims to change that, by bolstering reimbursement for SNFs — if they can make improvements […]
A workgroup authorized by the state of New York predicted dire outcomes for the Empire State’s skilled nursing facilities in a statement and recommendations delivered to various state departments on Friday. In the statement, the Nursing Home Acuity Workgroup described the planned change in methodology as “using unrepresentative resident assessment data.” Specifically, the state Department […]
In an unusual alliance, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) District 1199 joined with Genesis HealthCare (NYSE: GEN) administrators in Connecticut on Thursday to stave off the closure of several skilled nursing facilities in the state due to low occupancy. Under a provision in Connecticut’s biennial budget, nursing homes that have an occupancy rate below […]
A False Claims Act (FCA) case against HCR ManorCare’s Heartland hospice affiliates was dismissed with prejudice on Wednesday by Judge James Carr of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. The government had previously declined to intervene in the qui tam complaint made by Kathi Holloway, who worked as a regional hospice consultant […]
Private equity interest and investment in the skilled nursing space is growing as the sector goes through rounds of tumult and transformation. The trend was apparent in 2018, even though most of the private equity interest focused on senior housing. As real estate investment trusts (REITs) sold off their underperforming SNF assets, private equity buyers […]
With October 1 a few short months away, skilled nursing providers should be well into their preparations for the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), the overhaul of Medicare Part A reimbursement that’s set to take effect at the start of the new fiscal year. The new requirements include a variety of new possibilities for payment, since […]
Call9, a startup that raised tens of millions of dollars to expand its model of in-house emergency care at skilled nursing facilities, is winding down operations and restructuring its remaining assets. CNBC first reported the news Tuesday afternoon; about 100 employees have been laid off as part of the wind-down process, according to the outlet. […]
The state of New York is proposing a change in the way it calculates the case mix that sets Medicaid reimbursements for skilled nursing facilities — with the goal of realizing $246 million in net savings. If it is finalized, that could mean a significant cut in Medicaid reimbursements for nursing home providers in the […]
With the U.S. health care system lumbering toward value-based care and grappling with how to match payments with outcomes, accountable care organizations (ACOs) have come under the spotlight. But despite conflicting reports about their capacity to produce savings and improve care, one operator tells Skilled Nursing News that there is no doubt about one thing: […]
The out-of-pocket cost of receiving care in a nursing home has consistently grown faster than gains in consumer and medical care prices, raising questions about the affordability for seniors without Medicaid coverage or long-term care insurance, according to a study published in the journal Medical Care Research and Review. The study — which drew from […]
A court in South Dakota approved the transfer of 16 skilled nursing facilities formerly managed by Skyline Healthcare to Cascade Capital Group, the Aberdeen News reported Thursday. The facilities are currently under the temporary management of Black Hills Receiver, which was appointed in May of last year to stabilize 18 SNFs and one assisted living […]
Welltower (NYSE: WELL) CEO Tom DeRosa touted a big-picture view of his company’s skilled nursing investments this week, describing post-acute services as part of a larger health care ecosystem — one that is vertically integrated and thinks holistically about care. And because of that, he’s adamant that there’s more to the real estate investment trust’s […]
Despite ongoing debate about the data used to calculate the federal government’s five-star ratings for nursing homes, a new study found that higher-rated skilled nursing facilities produce better outcomes for residents. Properties with higher ratings on provider performance report cards outperform lower-ranked SNFs on a variety of metrics, researchers from the National Bureau of Economic […]
In an unusual outcome, the federal government’s top health care watchdog arm publicly cleared a nursing home it suspected of providing unnecessarily intensive therapy services. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this week determined that the skilled nursing facility at an Oklahoma continuing care retirement community (CCRC) properly supported all its therapy minutes […]
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