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 […]
Category: Compliance
At too many nursing facilities across the country, COVID-19 has already swept through the resident population with deadly efficiency. But others remain untouched by the novel coronavirus, and in some cases, facilities are beginning to discharge former COVID-19 patients back into the community. No matter where a given facility may be along the COVID-19 trajectory, […]
Over the years, nursing home operators have found themselves in the spotlight for negative reasons — usually in the wake of isolated stories of abuse and neglect, or tales of owners who bilked the government for money at the expense of quality care. But the industry has never been at the center of national conversation, […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday released a public database of staffing and resident counts for nearly 15,000 nursing homes, with the goal of potentially helping states make more informed decisions about the distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Using fourth-quarter 2019 data from the Payroll-Based Journal […]
New York Attorney General to Investigate Nursing Homes Amid COVID-19, With $10K Fines for Violations
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday announced a statewide investigation into nursing homes, with the support of the state’s attorney general and health department, amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Under the terms of the initiative, all nursing home operators will be required to submit proof of the steps that they have taken to comply […]
The federal government has not yet released the nuts-and-bolts details of its new COVID-19 reporting requirements for nursing homes, but an official on Wednesday indicated that the various agencies involved are trying to limit the pending rule’s impact on providers. “I assure you we are working to find the most efficient way to collect this […]
Skilled nursing operators across the U.S. are grappling with the challenge of caring for patients most vulnerable to COVID-19 while staying on top of a variety of state and federal guidelines. To do that without getting overwhelmed, it’s critical to have all the various components of an operation working together — and for operators with […]
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday praised the operators of many post-acute and long-term care facilities facing COVID-19 outbreaks, calling for a deep data dive on what went wrong once the crisis passes. “This is a topic that will get a lot of appropriate analysis after the fact,” Baker, a Republican, said during a daily […]
As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, access to coronavirus testing has emerged as an essential but frustratingly elusive weapon for long-term and post-acute care facilities. Simply put, operators of nursing homes and rehab centers can’t effectively fight what they can’t see, and every day without widespread testing capabilities forces leaders to make impossible decisions: None […]
A facility in New Jersey that made national headlines after the New York Times reported on a wave of COVID-19 deaths among its residents has a connection to the defunct Skyline Healthcare nursing home chain — a company whose spectacular collapse spurred calls for greater transparency around nursing home ownership across the country. Louis Schwartz, […]
The federal government this week offered a glimpse into how non-emergency medical procedures, temporarily banned amid the COVID-19 pandemic, may resume in certain parts of the country. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidance for how health care providers should prioritize non-coronavirus care once their specific region hits Phase I of the […]
Following weeks of pressure from industry leaders, resident advocates, and the media, the federal government on Sunday night ordered the nation’s nursing homes to begin reporting all positive COVID-19 cases directly to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Seema Verma described the move as a […]
Health care providers across the continuum have grappled with major challenges in providing care for patients with COVID-19, and several states have taken steps to shield them from lawsuits related to care provided during the national emergency. Skilled nursing facilities are often included in those liability protections, but the extent to which the protections apply […]
Nursing homes that rely primarily on Medicaid funding were largely shut out of the first round of coronavirus stimulus money set aside for health care providers — and while the federal government has promised that help is on the way, a group of 27 U.S. senators wants faster action. Led by Sen. David Perdue of […]
Blanket restrictions on non-essential visits to senior living and care properties should remain in effect until the very last phase of the federal government’s plan to gradually reopen public places and restart the economy, the White House announced this week. Designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to vulnerable populations, the visitation ban for nursing […]
Over the last few weeks, the concept of “cohorting” nursing home residents has emerged as a key, but potentially fraught, strategy for blunting the spread of COVID-19. In theory, the concept makes complete sense: If providers and health officials can separate residents who test positive from those without COVID-19, they can provide safe, uninterrupted care […]
Over the course of decades, lawmakers have built a jury-rigged structure to support the American post-acute and long-term care landscape. At the base, Medicaid supports long-term care residents who can no longer live on their own without around-the-clock care. Medicare dollars pay for higher-acuity care that seniors require after hospital stays — and prop up […]
In communities where the peak of the illness caused by the novel coronavirus hasn’t yet arrived, authorities should start designating specific skilled nursing facilities as specialized COVID-19 facilities to ease hospital capacity, according to a Wednesday essay in the journal Health Affairs. And as they look to make those designations, authorities should not wait on […]
Buried in an early April announcement from the federal government about updated COVID-19 guidance for nursing homes, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a pair of statistics from the early days of an infection-control crackdown by state inspectors. Surveyors found that 36% of facilities were not following proper hand-washing protocols during the […]
The state of California this week announced a program that will provide $500 stipends for certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) who work in the skilled nursing setting, funded primarily by a $25 million donation from social networking giant Facebook. Frontline caregivers who qualify under the “Skilled Nursing Facility Hero Awards” program […]
Subscribe
Receive industry updates and breaking news from SNN.