Guardian Elder Care, a nursing home operator with more than 50 buildings, will pay $15.5 million to resolve federal accusations of medically inappropriate therapy practices, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday. The Brockway, Pa.-based Guardian faced allegations — brought by a pair of former employees — that the company pressured therapists to perform unnecessary services […]
Category: Compliance
Turning around a struggling nursing home is no easy task, and that task becomes more challenging when the skilled nursing facility’s struggles played out in national headlines. But for Philosophy Care Group, the challenges of taking over a troubled facility were mitigated by the presence of a strong staff — and by the knowledge that […]
A nursing home owner whose request to take over a pair of facilities was denied has struck back with a lawsuit, claiming that the authorities didn’t provide sufficient justification for their decision. Christopher Brogdon, an Atlanta-based owner of long-term care facilities, claims that Arkansas health officials made an “arbitrary and capricious” decision when they blocked […]
The federal government in late December released draft updates to a key set of paperwork for nursing home staff, revealing a potential change ahead for 2020 and beyond. The Minimum Data Set (MDS) will no longer include Section G, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in late December. “Please note that Section […]
Texas came in last place on a recent ranking of nursing home quality, an outcome that highlights the potential for overdevelopment in the Lone Star State. Based on the percentage of certified nursing home beds at four-and five-star facilities, Texas sat last at 51 on the consumer-finance website WalletHub’s list of states — and the […]
Two Congressional representatives introduced a bill on Thursday that would ban nursing homes from requiring — or even asking — residents to enter into mandatory, pre-dispute, binding arbitration agreements. The Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act, introduced by Democratic Reps. Linda Sánchez of California and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, has support from a range of […]
A new law in New York State will require nursing home operators to provide detailed information about their physician privileges to residents as a prerequisite for admission. Signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo late last month, the update to the state’s public health law means that skilled nursing facilities can’t accept residents until they […]
Confusion continues to reign over the final set of new requirements for Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes, as the federal government disclosed that it will have very little ability to enforce the rules until the middle of next year. The third and last update to the Requirements of Participation (RoPs) is set to take effect […]
The long-term and post-acute care industry’s reaction to a new federal abuse warning icon for nursing homes was swift and negative when the plan was first announced last month — and now another voice has entered the fray to claim that the icons may actually do more harm than good. Leaders from AMDA, the Society […]
The regulatory push to reduce antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes may be correlated to a rise in risk factors for avoidable and non-avoidable hospitalization among residents with behavioral health issues, according to a recent study published in JAMDA, the journal for The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. A team of researchers from the […]
A new survey found that though antibiotic stewardship has increased at skilled nursing facilities across the country, there are still gaps with regard to the infection preventionist (IP) position -— even though that position is a key part of Phase 3 of the Requirements of Participation (RoPs) for SNFs, taking effect at the end of […]
As the federal government predicted, just under 5% of the nation’s nursing facilities received a new abuse warning icon on the consumer-facing Nursing Home Compare website — but the early data also reveals significant regional variations that could have an impact on valuations and bottom lines moving forward. Out of 15,262 total facilities, just 760 […]
Despite widespread anger in the skilled nursing industry, a controversial new warning icon for facilities with previous reports of abuse and neglect will affect only a relatively small proportion of properties, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Seema Verma told lawmakers in Washington on Wednesday. Testifying before the House Committee on Energy & […]
The federal government’s top health care watchdog logged an increase in nursing home complaints last year, according to the most recent set of data from the Department of Health and Human Services, in tandem with a 23% rise in high-priority incidents that were not investigated within the proper timeframe. The HHS Office of the Inspector […]
With a little more than a month to go before the final changes to the baseline Medicare and Medicaid requirements for nursing homes take effect, several key questions about complying with the rules remain — prompting at least one group to ask for a formal delay. The third and final updates to the Requirements of […]
The federal government on Thursday rolled out yet another initiative aimed at nursing home safety, announcing a multi-pronged effort to strengthen its oversight of State Survey Agencies (SSAs). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will implement a variety of new assessment tools in the State Performance Standards System (SPSS), its rubric for grading […]
When an ombudsman remains on site during post-acute and long-term care facility surveys, the building’s quality scores may be negatively affected, according to a study in published this week in JAMDA, journal of AMDA — The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Researchers determined that ombudsmen may direct assessors to more attention to on-site […]
Less than a week after the federal government proposed a new warning symbol for nursing homes with a history of abuse, a leading trade group has asked for a less severe icon. The American Health Care Association (AHCA) late last week called on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to ditch its red, […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Monday announced a plan to begin displaying a warning icon for nursing homes with abuse citations on its flagship consumer-facing website. Starting October 23, visitors to Nursing Home Compare will see a red circle with an open palm on the pages for facilities that have received […]
The long wait is over: The new Medicare payment system for nursing homes has arrived. October 1 marks the official start of the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), just about 18 months after the federal government first announced the change in April 2018. Since then, the skilled nursing industry has trained a laser focus on preparations […]
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