The federal government is considering a plan that would lift visitation restrictions at the nation’s nursing homes in three phases, according to a Sunday report in the Wall Street Journal. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would require nursing homes to achieve at least two weeks with no new COVID-19 cases before allowing […]
Category: Compliance
The state of New York this weekend issued a raft of new requirements for nursing home operators amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, while also seemingly reversing a controversial rule that required facilities to take coronavirus patients. Under the new regulations, hospitals cannot discharge patients with COVID-19 to nursing homes, the New York Times reported Sunday; […]
As the COVID-19 crisis continues to unfold, leaders in the skilled nursing space have increasingly claimed that various government agencies have left them in an unwinnable position. With occasionally conflicting edicts from state and federal authorities, and until recently a lower priority for testing than other care settings, the pandemic has revealed serious gaps in […]
The federal government this week publicly released the results of an inspection at a New Jersey nursing home that has made national headlines amid the COVID-19 pandemic, handing down a $220,000 fine. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) found Andover Subacute and Rehab II in violation of infection prevention and control regulations, issuing […]
Like many other nursing home operators, Diversicare Healthcare Services (OTC: DVCR) hasn’t been able to access sufficient COVID-19 testing supplies for all of its workers and residents. But among those who have tested positive, more than half displayed no symptoms at the time, a fact that the company says underscores the dire need for more […]
Despite promises from the federal government to speed the distribution of vital personal protective equipment (PPE) to the nation’s nursing homes, operators still find themselves paying exorbitant prices for necessary equipment — when they can even find any at all. Amid a global pandemic that laser-targets vulnerable elders, one of the most reliable PPE sources […]
The federal government took several steps to cut red tape in the health care system to help providers across the continuum battle the COVID-19 pandemic. But while those changes included alterations to reporting requirements for skilled nursing facilities, providers won’t be exempt from the consumer-facing rating system — and they need to be aware of […]
Officials in New Jersey this week ramped up the pressure on the state’s nursing homes, with the attorney general announcing a new anonymous abuse tip line and the governor promising regulatory changes stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. “The industry does not have it within themselves to make the changes they need. If they had, they […]
The federal government on Wednesday clarified that nursing home operators have a substantial grace period before they must begin submitting COVID-19 data required under a new interim final rule — while also laying out an escalating series of fines for failure to eventually report. The rule, announced last week, now gives providers until next Sunday, […]
In the era before COVID-19, specialty in-house Medicare Advantage plans had emerged as one of the hottest topics in long-term care — control the payer source, the thinking went, and an operator could eliminate the financial uncertainty and pressure that comes when working with managed care plans. But with a global pandemic running rampant through […]
A bill introduced in Congress Tuesday would send an additional $500 million to bolster nursing home inspections, while implementing a host of new safety and reporting regulations, amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Quality Care for Nursing Home Residents and Workers During COVID-19 Act serves as a direct response to the steadily rising death toll […]
When Congress set aside $175 billion in aid for health care facilities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal agencies in charge of doling out those dollars elected to prioritize speed over structure, sending cash influxes directly to providers with little advance warning or fanfare. On one level, this strategy makes sense. In the midst […]
The nursing home chain HCR ManorCare has — like many other skilled nursing operators — been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic still moving through the U.S. And like many other operators, it’s struggling to find the needed personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing kits, despite mandates from multiple states requiring testing and full stockpiles […]
For more than two months now, Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation CEO Stuart Almer has been on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle, running a 460-bed nursing home in the suburbs of New York City — a region that has borne the brunt of the coronavirus impact in the United States so far. That […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday released an interim final rule that, among other provisions, will require nursing homes to begin reporting detailed COVID-19 information to the federal government this week. While CMS and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) had previously announced the requirement — after weeks of […]
President Trump on Thursday announced the formation of a special nursing home task force that will convene in late May with the goal of better preparing the industry for future outbreaks in the wake of a staggering COVID-19 death toll. The Coronavirus Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes will consist of industry leaders, […]
More than a month after the federal government issued widespread waivers to expand telehealth coverage amid the COVID-19 pandemic, therapists will finally be able to provide remote interventions under Medicare. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Thursday announced that it will allow physical, occupational, and speech therapy practitioners to provide Medicare-covered telehealth […]
While the federal government has provided sweeping guidelines for nursing homes in the fight against COVID-19, the state-level response has been wildly inconsistent, according to a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation — a disconnect that may have increased the risks for vulnerable residents in certain areas. “This state-by-state approach to the COVID-19 pandemic […]
Citing current patterns of COVID-19 infection rates at nursing homes, the leader of the nation’s largest post-acute and long-term care association on Wednesday warned against states opening their economies too early — a move that he said could only worsen the crisis. “We are very concerned about states opening up too early for this simple […]
With personal protective equipment (PPE) in short supply across the country, skilled nursing facilities have felt left out in efforts to bolster health care capacity in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic — even though by most measures, they are arguably on the front lines of the battle to contain the illness caused by the […]
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