The future of skilled nursing facility construction and transactions is tied up in state licensing procedures like certificate of need (CON) approvals, with some operators at a standstill due to application backlog during the early months of the pandemic. A backup of applications, which are required in several states to build any health care building […]
Category: Compliance
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday issued two updates regarding survey and visitation guidance — steps to address the backlog of complaint and recertification surveys, and revising visitation to include “all residents at all times.” CMS said it will assist state survey agencies (SAs) with resuming surveys that took a backseat […]
Ten states have sued the federal government this week in hopes of stopping a regulation that requires Medicare and Medicaid participating health care facilities, including nursing homes, to have all staff members fully vaccinated by early next year. The suit, filed on Wednesday by 10 states attorneys general in the U.S. District Court for the […]
Five states are making efforts to improve financial transparency among skilled nursing facilities, in some cases requiring financial records to be accessible to the public and in other cases dictating where revenue can go, to ensure funds are going to residents first. For some compliance experts, the timing is right to shine a light on […]
Since the Biden administration announced a vaccine mandate would be coming into effect, nursing home staff vaccination rates have increased from 62 to 72%. While a 10% bump is encouraging, it remains to be seen if a hard deadline of Jan. 4 will be enough to bridge the gap in vaccine rate variability currently seen […]
Some nursing home advocacy groups and operators, upon the Thursday release of the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate guidance, say execution will only make the current workforce crisis worse. Others believe employer-initiated mandates indicate less of a workforce loss, with operators like St. Louis, Mo.-based St. Andrew’s Resources for Seniors System (STARRS) losing less than 2% […]
The majority of patients who returned home after staying in a skilled nursing facility for a short-term stay said there were “substantial gaps” in their care, according to a survey conducted by the United Hospital Fund (UHF). Of 263 patients surveyed across eight New York nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and other skilled nursing facilities, 80% […]
As skilled nursing industry staffing shortages worsen and occupancy recovery slows, health officials in some states are taking matters into their own hands to ensure quality care is being administered at their facilities. The Minnesota Department of Health recently assumed control of a small nursing home in the state, Twin City Gardens Nursing Home in […]
A medical director has to be more “engaged” than ever in its nursing home’s everyday operations at a time when facilities continue to see an influx of higher acuity patients, Dr. Justin Di Rezze, CEO of Theoria Medical, said. Di Rezze said that while nursing homes were beginning to see more medically complex patients before […]
In an early blow to skilled nursing facilities, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against two nursing homes in New Jersey, finding the COVID-19 lawsuits should continue in state court. Negligence and wrongful-death lawsuits were initially filed in April 2020 in state court against Andover Subacute & Rehabilitation I & II by families […]
Focused infection control (FIC) surveys appear to be on the decline at a time when some in the skilled nursing industry still remain concerned over the nature of the relationship with surveyors throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. FIC surveys were conducted 756 times in June of this year compared to 8,896 times in June 2020 — […]
After Caledonia Senior Living leadership mandated the vaccine for all staff in March, they achieved a 92% vaccination rate after just two clinics. Gus Noble, president of the North Riverside, Ill., facility, said understanding his staff, their lived experiences and matching them with doctors they trust to present on vaccine efficacy helped them reach this […]
After fighting COVID-19 in their facilities for 18 months, many nursing home operators were frustrated when they were informed in mid-August that a vaccine mandate would be coming into effect only for nursing home workers in the health care space. While that mandate has since been expanded to include all health care workers, the feeling […]
The relationship between nursing homes and regulatory agencies has varied since the start of the pandemic — surveyors were initially very helpful, but as the pandemic went on, clinical leaders started to see a shift in that relationship with mounting directives around citing outbreaks. In recent months, that relationship has shifted again to be more […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is in the “rulemaking” stage of its development of a federal vaccine mandate for all health care workers employed by Medicare or Medicaid funded facilities, according to a CMS official. Dr. Lee Fleisher, CMS’ chief medical officer and director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality […]
With the emergence of the delta variant and facility occupancy recovery slowed, it remains clear that the nursing home industry’s fight against COVID-19 is not over yet, American Health Care Association (AHCA) President and CEO Mark Parkinson said during opening remarks on Monday at the organization’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. In fact, Parkinson was […]
Financial performance indicators for nursing homes are changing at this point in the pandemic — instead of interest, depreciation, and amortization (EBIDA)—operators should instead be looking at alternative drivers of performance: occupancy, skilled mix and staffing, as well as external market fundamentals. CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) prefers these drivers over more traditional means, because they cut through […]
Insurance premium increases have put a huge financial weight on skilled nursing operators looking to raise wages for its staff during a mass exodus from the industry, while trying to attract potential staff or pay for agency workers, Shomer Insurance Services President Ari Baer told Skilled Nursing News. Professional liability insurance can be the second […]
Florida nursing home giant Consulate Health Care will pay $4.5 million of a $258 million judgment in a settlement with the Department of Justice that was formally approved by a U.S. Bankruptcy judge this week. The deal, finalized on Wednesday, emanates from a decision by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Florida to […]
New York’s nursing home staff worked against the clock as the state’s health care worker COVID-19 vaccine mandate took effect Monday, and those who did not comply could risk losing their jobs. About 92% of skilled nursing facility staff were vaccinated as of Sept. 28. That’s according to the most recent self-reported data provided by […]
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