A federal push to reform programs that nursing home operators use to boost Medicaid reimbursement rates could potentially lead to a $50 billion cut in total annual funding — but a separate Medicaid crackdown appears to have spared the long-term care industry, at least for the time being. The leaders of two major trade groups […]
Category: Medicaid
Industry advocates in Massachusetts are close to winning a ballot initiative that would boost Medicaid funding for the state’s beleaguered nursing home industry by $272 million, but at least one influential lawmaker was skeptical of the plan’s cost. The state senate’s Elder Affairs Committee on Tuesday held an open discussion of the plan to increase […]
Health care providers — including skilled nursing operators — in New York could see a new 3% surcharge on all new facilities under the governor’s proposed budget for fiscal 2021. The New York Post first reported the news earlier this week. The 2020-2021 executive budget proposes setting a certificate of need (CON) fee of 3% […]
When it comes to the buying, selling, and financial backing of skilled nursing facilities, the new chief development officer of Senior Living Investment Brokerage has seen all angles. Steve Gilleland, who joined the Glen Ellyn, Ill.-based SLIB at the beginning of the month, worked on the lending side of skilled nursing and senior housing in […]
After a tense year of standoffs between New York nursing home providers and the state government, Gov. Andrew Cuomo outlined his budget for the new fiscal 2021 with an eye toward curbing rapidly-expanding Medicaid spending. The budget doesn’t propose specific cuts to the Medicaid program, but Cuomo’s goal is to achieve $2.5 billion in savings […]
The federal government on Thursday announced a major shake-up to its consumer-facing database of skilled nursing facility quality information, revealing plans to merge Nursing Home Compare into a more comprehensive website that features data about care sites across the continuum. Sometime later this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will combine all […]
The consulting firm Avalere Health, based in Washington, D.C., has had a front-row seat for the changes shaping the health care world, including the post-acute sphere. For skilled nursing facilities, many of those changes have felt like one punch after another, ranging from the rise of Medicare Advantage enrollment to the federal government’s encouragement of […]
The federal government has proposed a rule governing the use of Medicaid supplemental payments for nursing homes that could have drastic effects on the reimbursement they receive. But the ripples of the rule don’t stop there. They could also overhaul the taxes that providers pay in several states — taxes that in turn contribute to […]
Though the early days of 2020 have brought some optimism around the state of the post-acute and long-term care industry, executives in the space continue to emphasize that the coming 12 months could bring make-or-break decisions for operators and their partners. One day after American Health Care Association (AHCA) CEO Mark Parkinson told SNN that […]
Early analyses of the new Medicare payment model for nursing homes indicate that operators may be pulling in more money than the federal government intended — leading to widespread speculation that adjustments could be coming sometime in 2020. American Health Care Association (AHCA) president and CEO Mark Parkinson agrees with the idea that the Patient-Driven […]
With skilled nursing facilities in multiple states facing significant shortfalls in their Medicaid reimbursement, supplemental payment programs used to bolster rates have become a lifeline. This is especially true for Texas and Indiana, both of which employ programs designed to get SNFs a higher rate for Medicaid services through varying mechanisms. Both states are motivated […]
Among the many early takeaways from the new Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), perhaps the most immediate was its effect on rank-and-file therapists who work at skilled nursing facilities. Almost instantly after the PDPM shift on October 1, Skilled Nursing News received a flurry of e-mails from therapists who were laid off or saw their hours […]
With the federal government looking to crack down on the programs used for shoring up Medicaid reimbursements for nursing homes and other care facilities, billions of dollars could soon be in the balance. States are going to have to take a closer look at their programs, both for the sake of their SNFs and overall […]
The margins for skilled nursing facilities finally broke out of the red and to break-even levels, according to the latest benchmarking report from consulting firm Plante Moran. But occupancy remained stagnant from 2017 to 2018, and staffing costs continue to increase. And Medicaid remains the elephant in the room when it comes to making the […]
Paramount Health Care, the managed Medicaid arm of major health system and skilled nursing operator ProMedica, this week announced a move to substantially scale back its footprint in the wake of serious financial losses for the plan. The Toledo, Ohio-based Paramount will exit the central and southeast regions of Ohio, cutting its overall enrollment by […]
The federal government on Monday announced the appointment of Brad Smith, a health care and insurance industry veteran, as the next head of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). Smith, previously the chief operating officer at insurance giant Anthem’s diversified business group, will additionally serve as senior advisor for value-based transformation to Department […]
The federal government extended the deadline for providers — both acute and post-acute — to comment on a proposed rule that would crack down on supplemental payment programs under Medicaid. The new deadline is February 1, pushed back about two weeks from the original end date of January 17. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid […]
New York made a 1% cut to Medicaid payments starting on January 1, with reimbursements to nursing homes included in the cost-cutting moves — which could soon translate to nearly $500 million in annual spending reductions. The New York Daily News first reported the cuts, which were published in a notice in the New York […]
Standard and Poor’s lowered its outlook for non-profit health system ProMedica, but analysts see sunnier days ahead for its HCR ManorCare skilled nursing assets. S&P Global Ratings on Christmas Eve affirmed its BBB long-term rating for ProMedica’s debt obligations, while also lowering its outlook on the Toledo, Ohio-based health giant from “stable” to “negative.” Following […]
In the lead-up to the new year, Skilled Nursing News took a look back at the top stories of 2019, and made our best predictions about the trends that will shape — and potentially rock — the post-acute and long-term care space in 2020. For these first business days of 2020, we decided to let […]