The Top Skilled Nursing Trends of 2020 — and Beyond

As we prepare to close the door on the 2010s, we’re also about to say goodbye to a year that probably felt like a full decade for operators and investors in the post-acute and long-term care space. With a new Medicare payment model, continued Medicaid pressures, and a raft of regulatory attention from Washington, D.C., […]

Low Stars, Citations, Medicaid Problems: HUD Lenders Share Top Skilled Nursing Dealbreakers

Lenders who offer Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) loans consider skilled nursing financing to be a long-term relationship, so choosing clients carefully — and thinking about deals as partnerships for the long haul — is crucial for good-decision making. Because the federal government backs these products, which feature low interest rates and a […]

Ciena Opens $16.5M Facility in Michigan; Former Kindred SNF to Become Substance-Use Facility

Ciena Healthcare’s newest skilled nursing facility in Westland, Mich., is ready to take patients after several years of construction. Hometown Life first reported on the facility’s opening. The new SNF, the Regency of Westland, will replace Ciena’s Camelot Hall Convalescent Center in Livonia, Mich., with patients at the latter expected to move into the Regency […]

We Want Your Input — 2020 Outlook Survey

The team at Skilled Nursing News is looking ahead to 2020 and would like to get your input for the 2020 Skilled Nursing News outlook survey. We’ll be releasing the results of this survey to all readers in early January. All responses gathered shall remain confidential, and your information will not be used in any […]

Judge Confirms Senior Care Centers’ Plan of Post-Bankruptcy Reorganization

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 […]

Nursing Home Employment Numbers Slide Again in November

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 […]

Medicaid’s Share of Nursing Home Revenue, Resident Days Hits Record High as Medicare Drops to Historic Low

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 […]

Portopiccolo Expands with $14.5M Bridge-to-HUD Loan; SLIB Turns Two in Tennessee ‘Win-Win’

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 […]

Sabra CEO Matros Has ‘No Sympathy’ for Third-Party Therapy Companies Amid Switch to PDPM

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 […]

SNN Poll: 43% of Operators, Vendors Have Laid Off Therapy Staff Post-PDPM

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 […]

Weighing the Promise and Perils of Skilled Nursing Ventilator Care Under PDPM

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 […]

How LTC Properties Worked Through Tenant Bankruptcies to See Skilled Nursing Opportunity Ahead

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 […]

Embracing End-of-Life Plans Can Lead to Better Skilled Nursing Care — While Reducing Unnecessary Costs

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 Completes 22-Building Atrium Deal; Dwight Closes $50.8M Financing in N.J.

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 […]