‘Marginal Impact’ to Nursing Home Care Seen as Kamala Harris Proposes Medicare Coverage for In-Home Long-Term Care

Vice President Kamala Harris shared a new proposal on Tuesday to require Medicare to cover the costs associated with in-home long-term care, potentially allowing seniors and individuals with disabilities to receive care in their homes rather than in skilled nursing facilities. The proposal could have broad appeal for middle income Americans who don’t qualify for […]

How Allure, Mission Health and iCare Are Using QAPI to Drive Nursing Home Quality Outcomes and Revenue

For some nursing homes, quality assurance and performance improvement (QAPI) meetings serve merely as a checkbox for requirements, but they haven’t driven changes to improve care quality outcomes. On the flip side, however, other nursing homes are effectively using QAPI meetings to push for success in quality of care. Executives at these facilities emphasize that […]

OSF, Good Samaritan Execs: Improving Metrics Are the Glue Binding Nursing Home-Hospital Relationships

Nursing homes and hospitals are developing closer ties and improving communication, and with this trend, admissions into nursing homes are expected to increase as rehospitalizations and excessive lengths of stay are also seen as declining. With rising acuity and staffing shortages of recent years, nursing homes have often been reluctant in admitting challenging cases that […]

As CMS Issues Draft Minimum Data Set for Nursing Homes Early, Experts Note Some ‘Helpful’ Sections

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a draft Minimum Data Set (MDS) on Tuesday, and while the changes are minimal, clinical and reimbursement experts noted that they could lead to reduced control over certain quality reporting measures. However, the earlier-than-anticipated release also suggests that the federal agency aims to give operators a […]

Administrative Burdens, Lack of Standardization Noted as Hurdles at CMS’ Nursing Home Quality Program’s Listening Session

For its Quality Reporting Program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is exploring the possibility of expanding nursing home data collection and submission to all residents, regardless of payer type. Officials heard feedback on the challenges and benefits of such a move during a listening session held on Tuesday. If the federal agency […]

Helene Aftermath: Nursing Homes Face ‘Long and Difficult’ Recovery Amid Evacuations and Power Outages

As states in Hurricane Helene’s path grapple with its devastating effects days after it made landfall in Florida Thursday evening, nursing home operators are dealing with significant repair and maintenance challenges that could last a while – particularly in states like North Carolina. Damage to transportation, power and utilities could make recovery in some states […]

Inside Covenant, American Health Plans’ Strategies to Keep Nursing Home Managed Care Burdens in Check

In weathering the rise of managed care penetration – which has often meant lost profits – nursing homes are turning to centralized processes for handling claims, beefing up teams to handle additional documentation requests (ADRs), and closely tracking contract renewals. Rates for managed care plans like Medicare Advantage are often lower than traditional fee-for-service Medicare […]

As Nursing Homes Struggle to Prepare for Extreme Weather Challenges, Staff and Funding Among Major Gaps

As Florida prepares for yet another hurricane, it serves as a reminder that nursing homes in the area, as well as in other regions prone to extreme weather events, face rising risks and must maintain continued vigilance in following and developing rigorous emergency preparedness plans. Research highlights that older adults are particularly vulnerable during climate-related […]

SCOTUS Decision Sets Stage for Nursing Homes to Challenge Civil Monetary Penalties but Such Litigation Is Likely Too Costly

The U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision regarding civil monetary penalties (CMPs), which allows defendants the right to present their case to a federal jury when a federal agency is seeking financial penalties, may seem like a win for nursing homes at first glance. However, many providers are unlikely to pursue this path. The CMP decision […]

Discarding the ‘Red Ocean’ Mindset: Inside Ignite and A.G. Rhodes’ Paths to Growth for Nursing Homes 

Growth strategies for nursing homes can vary greatly, depending on nonprofit versus for-profit status and especially the geographic market in which an operator is currently operating. But growth and innovation – no matter the sector or region – require risk and a lot of vision to properly execute.  Providers will have to reimagine a grander […]

American Senior Communities CEO Talks I-SNP JV, Benefits and Drawbacks of Concentrated Scale

Coming off of his first year as CEO of American Senior Communities Steve Van Camp is busy planning an Institutional Special Needs Plan (I-SNP) joint venture with five other providers in Indiana, while also devoting time and resources to meeting quality measures and outcomes among ASC facilities.  Important considerations to forge ahead with these efforts […]

Cascadia, Diversicare CEOs: The Greater ‘War’ Is Over Rooting Out Nursing Home Labor Problems, Not Just the Staffing Mandate

The timing and feasibility of the federal staffing mandate continue to haunt nursing home operators and communities, particularly those in rural areas, where providers across the health care continuum are competing to find clinical staff. Take for example, the case of a nursing home owned by Diversicare Healthcare Services in Yorktown, Texas, which is one […]

Principle, Journey, Allure Execs: ‘Challenging Past Practices’ Is Crucial to Nursing Home Strategy Amid Uncertain Future

Customer service, staff wellbeing, and tackling low reimbursement rates are some of the top priorities for nursing home operators as they prepare for the future. And educating and supporting care teams is especially important in order to strategize with the quality measures that will be implemented in the coming years, as these will have an […]

‘Can’t Be On Your Game’: Inside Nursing Home Staff Turnover’s Domino Effect on Surveys and Acquisitions of Distressed Facilities

An ongoing depletion of knowledgeable nursing staff at nursing homes, such as the Minimum Data Set (MDS) coordinators, is leading to errors and confusion with facility surveys and ratings. This, in turn, is impacting operations and the ability to acquire and improve distressed facilities. A high turnover among those close to the survey process is […]

State of the Nursing Home Workforce (Part 4): Dwyer Workforce Development’s CEO on ‘Secret Sauce’ Behind Growth

At the heart of many successful workforce initiatives that nursing homes are pursuing to increase the number of workers is the push for employee well-being and a recognition that many frontline workers face fundamental and systemic barriers to entering the workforce. To that end, an organization that is enabling skilled nursing providers to grow their […]

TEAM Model Gives Nursing Homes Another Lever for Medicare Advantage Negotiations

Negotiating power with Medicare Advantage (MA) plans may become easier as nursing homes explore participation in bundled payment options such as the Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM), which enables following patients through an entire episode of care. It’s a lever available to participants and collaborators to forge new contracting strategies with their MA plan and […]

Drop in CMS Five-Star Ratings and RN Numbers Linked to Nursing Home Ownership Change

As federal agencies push for ownership transparency, nursing home ownership changes have been linked to a decrease in staffing hours and in turn a drop in Five-Star rating scores, at least for a short period of time following acquisition. Most acquired facilities showed indications of financial struggles, including lower star ratings and occupancy, plus a […]

Nursing Home Data Sharing Standards Are Expected, Needed to Reduce Staff Burnout, Improve Care

Challenges stemming from gaps in medical data along the health care continuum and a lack of seamless sharing of crucial information between nursing homes and other entities have grave consequences, especially given the more serious patient acuity levels being discharged to post-acute care facilities. And yet, this is an issue that has failed to garner […]

State of the Nursing Home Workforce (Part 3): To Bolster Frontline Staff, Operators Open Up Their Own CNA Schools, Graduating Thousands

Building the frontline workforce continues to be crucial for the nursing home sector as the industry faces a federal minimum staffing mandate. However, barriers exist in the form of civil monetary penalties (CMPs), which can pause in-house training programs if a facility is cited, and existing staff is stretched so thin that educational demands just […]

‘No Magic Bullet’ But Retention Efforts, Centralized Recruiting Helping Nursing Home Operators

The Centralized recruitment model is gaining momentum across long-term care communities and nursing homes, and more operators amid consolidation in the sector, are attesting to its success. Operators like Covenant Living Communities and Services understand well, however, that success is only as good as the region and setting. “I don’t necessarily think there’s a magic […]