To combat and contain the COVID-19 pandemic, testing has emerged as the both a lynchpin and one of the most of the significant pain points. This is true for all parts of the health care continuum in the U.S., but for skilled nursing facilities, the need for widespread testing is acute, given how swiftly the […]
Prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, skilled nursing facilities that specialize in post-acute care were a rare target of true investor excitement in the greater institutional senior care continuum. With a shiny new Medicare payment model that gave providers more financial credit for the high-acuity services they’d increasingly added over the years, and […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed hospital system capacity to the breaking point in some parts of the U.S., and wrought particular havoc in the skilled nursing setting. All eyes have been on the health care system, with a particular focus on ensuring hospital capacity: Calls to stay home and “flatten the curve” often come with […]
Even before nursing homes became the epicenter of a world-historic pandemic, the setting was rarely the first choice for young nurses looking to build a long-term career. Often perceived as a less-exciting workplace than other settings — such as the emergency room or private practice — post-acute and long-term care facilities have long been considered […]
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 […]
Third Eye Health had a two-year plan to expand the network of skilled nursing facilities that use its telehealth technology from 400 to more than 1,000. Amid a world-historic pandemic, the Chicago-based tech company reached that multi-year goal in a matter of a few weeks. “We’ve had truly exponential growth,” Third Eye vice president and […]
The federal government has granted Medicare Advantage plans significant leeway when it comes to setting payment rates and other rules for skilled nursing facilities. In normal times, the crazy quilt of managed-care policies and exceptions creates headaches for operators and their billing teams. Amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, widespread variations in Medicare Advantage behavior add […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will increase its reimbursements for high-volume lab tests used to rapidly diagnose COVID-19 cases as part of the federal government’s push to expand testing access — particularly among the vulnerable skilled nursing population, the agency announced Wednesday. The reimbursement for COVID-19 diagnostic lab tests that use certain […]
The shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the skilled nursing setting has led to donation drives, workers making their own equipment from fabric and trash bags, and increasingly desperate searches for supplies on the part of providers as they try to cope with the COVID-19 national emergency. The search for supplies can get particularly […]
Late last week, some operators of skilled nursing facilities — along with many other providers that perform Medicare-reimbursed health care services — woke up to a sudden influx of cash in their corporate bank accounts. But they may not necessarily be able to keep it. Without much fanfare, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services […]
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to sweep through the nation’s nursing homes, the industry’s already strained workforce could soon reach a new breaking point as caregivers become sick themselves — or fear spreading the virus to their loved ones. The staffing crisis hit the national media last week, when a nursing home in Riverside, Calif. […]
The federal government late Friday released its proposed rule for skilled nursing facility payments for the coming fiscal year, which will see the nation’s nursing homes receive a 2.3% Medicare pay bump. “This estimated increase is attributable to a 2.7% market basket increase factor with a 0.4 percentage point reduction for multifactor productivity adjustment,” the […]
One of most important weapons for fighting the novel coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. is also one of the most glaring gaps in the country’s health system: a lack of rapid, widespread testing for COVID-19. Nowhere does the testing shortage have as much destructive potential as in the skilled nursing setting, where the virus can […]
By waiving the three-day stay requirement for post-acute skilled nursing coverage under Medicare, the federal government has clearly indicated a desire to free up hospital beds by relying more heavily on nursing homes to provide higher-acuity services. Residents who require routine dialysis treatments are some of the most at-risk patients — and although this population […]
When Jonah Blumenthal, co-founder of the Pomona, N.Y.-based marketing firm TypoDuctions, first started pitching nursing home operators on the potential benefits of using social media, the response was decidedly skeptical. “Five years ago, people thought we were nuts — why in the world would a nursing home want social media?” Blumenthal told SNN recently. Engaging […]
Updated guidelines on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) are causing major headaches for health care providers across the continuum, as both acute and post-acute care settings grapple with supply shortages and a surge in cases of COVID-19. Those headaches include grappling with significant shortages of equipment in the face of the highly contagious […]
As the chief medical officer for publicly traded nursing home giant Genesis HealthCare (NYSE: GEN), Dr. Richard Feifer has a bird’s-eye view on the strategies that hundreds of individual nursing homes have implemented in the fight against COVID-19. Appearing on the most recent episode of SNN’s “Rethink” podcast, Feifer was blunt about the decisions that […]
Building on individual state actions, the federal government on Thursday night directed the nation’s nursing home operators to begin setting up separate wings — or entire facilities — for residents who have tested positive for COVID-19, while also encouraging operators to use separate teams of staff members to better monitor developing cases. The Centers for […]
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