Whether or not home health providers can maintain the volume they siphoned away from skilled nursing facilities during the pandemic has emerged as a top question for policymakers and financial analysts alike. A permanent shift from SNF to home could portend financial and operational chaos for a sector already battered by COVID-19, the thinking goes, […]
Category: Medicaid
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis in nursing homes continues to make headlines amid accusations of a deliberate cover-up, but the embattled executive this week promised to explore reforms targeted at for-profit facility owners. “I have long believed that there is a tension in a for-profit nursing home, because those institutions […]
The majority of patients at any nursing facility have their care covered by the Medicaid program of any given state, and those rates are notorious for being insufficient to cover the cost of the services those patients demand — to the point that operators from multiple states can argue near-simultaneously that it is theirs with […]
The Biden administration is leaning toward the selection of former federal health official and current Manatt Health managing director Chiquita Brooks-LaSure for the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Politico reported this week. Brooks-LaSure held posts at CMS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under President Obama, with […]
The new Biden administration has tapped Liz Richter to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on an interim basis during the presidential transition. The agency’s website currently lists Richter, who has worked at CMS in various capacities since 1990, as acting administrator. She succeeds outgoing administrator Seema Verma, who on Wednesday resigned […]
When I was 23 years old, my mother died unexpectedly of a massive stroke in her sleep. She was only 62, and there was no warning. One day we were talking on the phone about Christmas plans, and the next I was giving a police officer permission to break into my childhood home for a […]
Each year, Skilled Nursing News uses the end of December to look back on the stories that shaped the previous 12 months. In the past, the exercise has occasionally revealed a few forgotten surprises from the year that was, though SNN’s lists of most-read stories often have a recurring theme. For the past two years, […]
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found “significant problems” with the managed long-term supports and services (MLTSS) covered by Medicaid and implemented through contracts with managed care organizations. The GAO made the discovery in a recent review of six states. In the report, which was released publicly on December 16, the GAO recommended a […]
The growth in U.S. spending on nursing home care lagged behind gains in overall health expenditures — as well as the increase in cash spent on care at home and in hospitals — according to the most recent update to an annual analysis of American health care costs. The United States spent a collective $172.2 […]
The federal government on Wednesday announced an expansion of the third phase of COVID-19 relief for health care providers, specifically releasing an extra $1.1 billion to nursing homes. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) decided to boost its Phase 3 funding total from $20 billion to $24 billion after determining that the initial […]
When Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL) and health system ProMedica teamed up to take over nursing home giant HCR ManorCare in 2018, the players positioned the move as a way to vertically integrate a continuum that could follow a patient from the hospital, to a skilled nursing facility, to home health. The real estate investment trust […]
Three senior living and care organizations in Pennsylvania filed suit against the state over $153 million in additional Medicaid funds allocated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, charging the Keystone State with treating the money “as its own piggybank and disregarding the substantial need of the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable citizens.” The petition, filed on December […]
The federal government last week advised nursing homes that a variety of COVID-related freezes on updates to the public Nursing Home Compare database will end soon after the start of the new year. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on January 27 will update quality and health inspection metrics on the consumer-facing resource, […]
President-elect Joe Biden has selected Xavier Becerra, the current attorney general of California and a critic of President Trump’s nursing home policies, to helm the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the incoming administration, the New York Times reported Sunday. Prior to serving as California’s top prosecutor, Becerra represented the Los Angeles area […]
The federal government on Tuesday finalized its proposed physician fee schedule for the 2021 calendar year, formalizing cuts to Medicare reimbursement rates for therapy services provided to residents covered under Part B — while also expanding some telehealth flexibilities offered during COVID-19. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in August floated a 9% […]
Some aspects of the nursing home world do not change even during a global pandemic, and that includes the need to manage relationships with multiple payers. Several managed care organizations (MCOs) are now sending in their new contracts to skilled nursing providers as old agreements expire, Chad Bogar, the founder and CEO of the law […]
The skilled nursing sector has been roiled by the pandemic, but it’s also proven itself to be a critical part of the care continuum for patients coming out of a hospital stay. For Rick Matros, the CEO of the Irvine, Ca.-based real estate investment trust Sabra Health Care REIT (Nasdaq: SBRA), that won’t necessarily be […]
Nursing home and senior living providers in the not-for-profit sector are facing significant strains from the surge in COVID-19 nationwide. Leading into the Thanksgiving holiday, operators are pleading with those in the community to refrain from gathering amid challenges both operational and financial. “Nursing homes really are at the brink,” Deke Cateau, the CEO of […]
The federal government has talked a big game about shifting toward value-based payments for Medicare and Medicaid providers, but fee-for-service reimbursements have remained a primary force governing operations in the post-acute and long-term care sector. COVID-19 has subtly shifted that dynamic, however — especially in the field of telemedicine, which has seen skyrocketing adoption rates […]
The federal government this week announced that Medicare will cover a recently approved antibody treatment for COVID-19 in a range of settings, including nursing homes. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday cleared on an emergency basis the use of bamlanivimab — a monoclonial antibody infusion — for adults with mild to moderate cases of COVID-19. […]