The Ensign Group (Nasdaq: ENSG) has emerged as a rare publicly traded skilled nursing powerhouse, with steady expansion across the country and persistently solid quarterly earnings numbers. But CEO Barry Port is hesitant to take the credit. Instead, he’s content to chalk up Ensign’s success to its legion of regional leaders, many of whom have […]
A bankruptcy court judge formally signed off on Senior Care Centers’ plan of reorganization, enabling the beleaguered skilled nursing operator to continue operations with a fraction of the facilities it held at the time it entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December of last year. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stacey G.C. Jernigan officially confirmed the plan on […]
The nation’s nursing homes lost about 1,700 jobs in November, marking two consecutive months of slight slides since the introduction of the new Medicare payment model for skilled nursing services. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) counted a seasonally-adjusted total of 1,603,500 employees at nursing care facilities last month, a drop of 1,700 from […]
Sabra Health Care REIT (Nasdaq: SBRA) is in the midst of a push to diversify its real estate holdings into behavioral health assets, and despite some overlap between those care sites and skilled nursing, its leaders say operators must pick one or the other to succeed. On paper, adapting a portion of a skilled nursing […]
Occupancy at the nation’s nursing homes stayed flat between the most recent two quarters, but the proportion of residents covered under Medicaid hit a record high — while the share of bread-and-butter Medicare residents fell to a record low. Medicaid accounted for exactly two-thirds, or 67.6%, of resident days at nursing facilities in the third […]
More than 40% of skilled nursing facility operators and vendors have laid off therapy staff amid the shift to a new Medicare payment model, a recent Skilled Nursing News poll found, but more staff cuts may not be part of their plans for the new year. When asked if they planned on laying off therapy […]
The Portopiccolo Group recently expanded its skilled nursing ownership footprint with the assistance of Capital Funding Group, which bankrolled the acquisition of a Virginia facility and the refinance of a second property in Kentucky. The $14.5 million bridge-to-Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) loan allowed the Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based Portopiccolo purchase Emporia Manor, a […]
The new Medicare payment model for nursing homes has brought significant upheaval around therapy provision — an outcome that one prominent CEO in the space says therapy companies should have seen coming sooner. Given all of the warning signs from Washington and Baltimore — dating back to when the federal government was planning on implementing […]
News of therapy layoffs swept through the skilled nursing industry in the weeks after the implementation of the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), and a new poll from Skilled Nursing News finds that more than 40% of operators and therapy vendors have made some kind of staffing reductions post-October 1. A little more than 43% of […]
Among the many unknowns of the new Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) is its effect on the types of patients coming into the skilled nursing facility. But one place to watch resident patterns is around the addition of ventilator services and care to facilities — especially if they haven’t offered those options before. Respiratory therapy — along with […]
Total spending on health care in the United States increased by 4.6% in 2018, a faster rate than the previous year — but at the same time, nursing homes and other post-acute care settings saw spending growth slow down from 2017. All payer sources laid out a total of $168.5 billion on care at nursing […]
A greater percentage of skilled nursing facilities will receive Medicare payment cuts under a key value-based payment model in fiscal year 2020, according to a new set of government data. Of the more than 12,000 nursing homes nationwide that reported sufficient data, 77% — or 9,878 — will receive some kind of reimbursement reduction related […]
For the past few public earnings calls, analysts have peppered executives at LTC Properties (NYSE: LTC) with questions about the ongoing bankruptcies of skilled nursing tenants Senior Care Centers and Preferred Care, which have proven to be long-running issues for the real estate investment trust (REIT). But with a plan in place to sell off […]
For nursing home owners and operators, having frank conversations about residents’ end-of-life intentions, and organizing the associated paperwork proactively, is a potential way to avoid unwanted hospitalizations and the sizable costs that come with it — especially if it’s not in line with the patient’s wishes. Nursing homes are faced with tough decisions when the […]
North Shore Healthcare officially completed its acquisition of 21 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities formerly operated by Atrium Health & Senior Living. The Glendale, Wis.-based North Shore now has 71 SNFs and assisted living communities in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and North Dakota, according to the operator’s December 1 announcement. Atrium had 33 SNFs and […]
Robert Specht had spent years at the financial helm of companies in a variety of spaces, but he was a post-acute and long-term care newcomer when he accepted a crash course in the business: a consulting position for a 33-building senior housing and care chain in receivership. Working with Health Dimensions Group, the provider and […]
PruittHealth spent 2019 celebrating its 50th anniversary in the post-acute and long-term care space, but second-generation CEO Neil Pruitt, Jr. says his company — along with the rest of the industry — must focus on novel and creative strategies for surviving into the future. Pruitt sees potential in a variety of forward-thinking initiatives, from the […]
Massachusetts has been at the forefront of nursing home stress over the last few years, and a new government report illustrated a host of negative statistics — from cratering utilization to median margins as low as -10% for the worst-performing properties. In terms of total resident days, nursing facility utilization in Massachusetts dropped 5.4% between […]
An operator with several skilled nursing facilities in the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing issues with its secured debt and — in chorus with other bankrupt operators across the country — problems with its leases. Cornerstone Healthcare Services operates 14 SNFs in the states of Washington, […]
Dialysis services have recently been highlighted as a major growth area under the new Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) — both financially and clinically — especially as reimbursements are recalibrated for higher acuity patients. In July, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rolled out the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Treatment Choices (ETC) model, […]