As a flurry of regulations and mandates descend upon the nursing home sector, such changes could create legal obstacles, and suggest yet another difficult and onerous year for providers. Staffing mandates, the aftermath of the end of the public health emergency (PHE), Covid liability and the PREP Act, all create “existential threats” for skilled nursing […]
Category: Compliance
The nation’s highest court has declined to weigh in on a case involving a federal arbitration rule that nursing home industry groups argue places “burdensome” requirements on facilities. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition on Monday for a writ of certiorari in the case of Northport Health Services of Arkansas, LLC v. Department of […]
Nursing homes across the country are anxiously waiting for the federal government to approve temporary nurse aide (TNA) waivers just days before the program is set to expire. Massachusetts, Washington, Indiana and Louisiana have had their statewide waiver requests approved so far, but more than 10 states were still waiting for further information to be […]
Real estate investment trust (REIT) dealmaking for the rest of this year and into 2023 will largely be driven by the desire to deepen existing or secure new partnerships with skilled nursing operators that have “weathered the storm exceptionally well.” That’s according to Michael Segal, executive managing director and partner at Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate […]
A case to determine if state-owned nursing homes are shielded from federal lawsuits – to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in November – received more than 20 amicus briefs last week. The flood of briefs filed in September are in support of Ivanka Talevski, wife of former nursing home resident Gorgi Talevski, suing […]
In line with efforts to improve skilled nursing ownership transparency, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said on Monday that it is making additional data publicly available for all Medicare-certified nursing homes. Licensing officials, state and federal law enforcement, researchers and the public will, for the first time, be able to identify common […]
Some nursing homes will be able to remove the blanket indoor mask requirements that have been in effect for the last two and a half years — with the exception of those in areas with “high” Covid transmission levels. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued the guidance late Friday, just one month […]
Testimony and questions at the recent congressional hearing on nursing homes’ performance in Covid-19 showed that the system is in desperate need of reform, and that the time for reports and study is over, according to LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan. “We need to start looking ahead,” Sloan told Skilled Nursing News. “My […]
The nursing home industry was thrust back into the national spotlight this week as federal lawmakers called out for-profit ownership for their lack of resources during the early months of the pandemic and confounding corporate structures. The Congressional Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, chaired by Rep. James Clyburn, held a hearing on Wednesday to […]
The five-star quality rating system has been a thorny issue for a lot of operators in the skilled nursing space, with many calling for a significant overhaul to quality metrics as facilities drown in seemingly endless federal benchmark adjustments. Even academics and consultants monitoring the sector believe the ratings system needs to be updated – […]
As Covenant Care shakes up its leadership team from top to bottom, its new CEO Nathan Ure is honing in on the skilled nursing operator’s clinical acumen. Taking a page from what is being done both in the state of California and what’s being requested by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Ure believes […]
Many investors have not shied away from the skilled nursing industry in spite of the ongoing labor shortages, rising costs and looming federal regulations consuming operators — and they don’t appear to be doing so anytime soon. Private buyers have continued to buy up the overwhelming majority of available assets, closing roughly $1 billion in […]
Federal reforms — on top of chronic underfunding in the state — has Texas-based Cascade Health Services fearing that certain facilities will be left at a disadvantage as the operator looks to grow regionally. Permanent Medicaid rate increases could be a start, Cascade CEO Ron Haney told Skilled Nursing News, but facilities in Texas will […]
The Ensign Group (Nasdaq: ENSG) is in conversation with small and mid-sized operators at the local and regional level, as the nursing home giant uses its strong capital position and service center resources to scale operations. Ensign executives mentioned such plans at this week’s National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) Fall Conference […]
Nurses in the skilled nursing sector say their situation has not improved after two-and-a-half years into the pandemic – more than half have seen an increase in medical mistakes as a result of lower staffing. This is the “new normal” for the sector, according to a study released by IntelyCare on Wednesday. The Massachusetts-based health […]
Nursing home operators were able to tell the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) directly how much certain waivers helped their organizations during the pandemic, with the temporary nurse aide (TNA) and three-day stay waivers being the most beneficial. SNF industry leaders also made their case for extending waivers or making some permanent during […]
As the skilled nursing industry works to stem the workforce shortage tide, leaders in the sector should not expect to find the ultimate answers in Washington. That’s according to Clif Porter, senior vice president of government relations at the American Health American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL). “We can’t fix this in […]
The federal government this week announced a settlement with a Massachusetts operator over allegations that the company discriminated against residents with opioid use disorder (OUD). Next Step Healthcare, which operates 21 SNFs in the state, allegedly denied admission to 548 patients who were prescribed medications for OUD, according to a statement issued by U.S. Attorney’s […]
The federal government has continued its efforts toward intensive scrutiny into the skilled nursing sector with a push against illegal nursing home debt collection practices. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a joint letter to operators and debt collectors, as a reminder that a nursing […]
Beyond the obvious call for more direct care workers and adequate funding of care, today’s aging population needs a broader range of living arrangements than what is offered now within the care continuum. In other words, more options that keep residents connected to their community and family while still receiving the right level of clinical […]