The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Monday announced a plan to begin displaying a warning icon for nursing homes with abuse citations on its flagship consumer-facing website. Starting October 23, visitors to Nursing Home Compare will see a red circle with an open palm on the pages for facilities that have received […]
Category: Medicaid
Just about a week after changing hands, four skilled nursing facilities in Nebraska announced plans to soon shut down amid financial difficulties that their new owners blamed on a tough overall state budget landscape. The four facilities — Blue Hill Care Center in Blue Hill, Crestview Care Center in Milford, Mory’s Haven in Columbus, and […]
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra criticized a proposed federal rule that would delay certain aspects of Phase 3 of the Requirements of Participation for skilled nursing facilities, arguing that the move would roll back key protections for residents. Announced in July, the proposed rule seeks to reduce reporting and paperwork burdens through delaying certain parts […]
Despite a quarter-over-quarter drop, national occupancy at skilled nursing facilities inched upward in the second quarter of 2019 as compared to last year, even as Medicare Advantage revenues took a slight tumble. The nation’s nursing homes sat at 83.3% full during the second quarter of the year, up 0.5% from the same period last year, […]
With capital chasing upside and new development dominated by high-end “medical resorts,” the availability of long-term care beds has emerged as a big-picture issue for the skilled nursing industry. While it may not be a nationwide problem just yet, certain markets — from Wisconsin to California — have begun to show the early signs of […]
Philip Esformes, who used to control a network of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities running from Miami to Chicago, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday. The legal publication Law360 first reported the news. The U.S. Justice Department called the case, which resulted in 20 guilty verdicts in April, the largest single […]
Texas’s failure to pass a program to increase Medicaid payment to skilled nursing facilities was the latest step not taken in improving the reimbursement in the Lone Star State. The legislation, which would have set up a long-term care quality provider participation program (QPPP) to funnel additional compensation to SNFs for meeting certain quality metrics, […]
A ballot initiative that would overhaul the way Massachusetts’s Medicaid program pays for nursing home services last week moved one step closer to reaching voters. The office of state attorney general Maura Healey certified a nursing home reimbursement proposal among other potential ballot questions for Bay State voters to consider in 2020, local NPR station […]
The federal government on Thursday finalized a rule that will expand its power to remove potentially unscrupulous health care providers from Medicare and Medicaid eligibility. Under the new final rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) can kick providers out of the programs if they have a previous affiliation with a banned organization, […]
The past several years have seen sweeping overhauls of nursing home enforcement on the federal level, and the Medicare program’s top clinical officer says her agency isn’t done beefing up its efforts. Dr. Kate Goodrich, the chief medical officer for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), promised that more changes are coming to […]
After health care providers reported a range of issues with reimbursement, one of Kansas’s three managed Medicaid insurance companies promised improvement at a recent state government hearing. “Clearly, the feedback we’ve received and some of the issues that have been brought to our attention and some of the issues we’ve seen internally have been extremely […]
Eric Mendel took a gradual road into the skilled nursing space, but the Avenir Healthcare CEO believes that his experience in other parts of the continuum could help create new and better pathways for residents to receive care in the right setting. Mendel has served as the CEO of the Queens, N.Y.-based Central Assisted Living […]
Lawmakers in the state of Connecticut have targeted nine facilities for major Medicaid cuts due to low occupancy, raising concerns about access issues from operators and employees alike — and highlighting the occasionally paradoxical relationship between skilled nursing usage and funding. The nine properties face a total of $6 million in lost Medicaid reimbursements, the […]
Among the new payment models sweeping the skilled nursing industry, accountable care organizations (ACOs) tend to vex nursing home operators the most. These groups, which encourage cost savings by holding providers up and down the continuum accountable for overall health spending, are typically seen as length-of-stay depressants. The hospitals and physician organizations that generally lead […]
Because of delays by the Illinois government in processing Medicaid coverage applications, the non-profit operator of a skilled nursing facility that closed a year ago is now declaring bankruptcy. The State Journal-Register reported the news August 16th. The state of Illinois made headlines last year for a multi-million Medicaid eligibility backlog, and it already had […]
In the state of Kansas, nursing homes have fallen into the position of serving as part of the mental health care system, amid a dearth of care options for those in need of such services, according to a Monday report by Kansas News Service. “The nursing homes serve as sort of a midpoint between state […]
The new Medicare payment model for skilled nursing facilities has consumed most of the oxygen around the industry over the past year-plus, with operators, vendors, and consultants working in tandem to adjust to the new math. But according to one leader, all of that attention on the Patient-Driven Payment Model may not be focused on […]
Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI) made a major splash this week with the announcement of a planned $735 million skilled nursing acquisition, though executives also reported that a troubled tenant in Texas hasn’t generated any revenue for the real estate investment trust (REIT) yet this quarter. Daybreak Venture met its rent obligations under a deferral […]
Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI) on Tuesday announced plans to pick up 58 skilled nursing facilities in a 60-building deal valued at $735 million. The Hunt Valley, Md.-based real estate investment trust (REIT) agreed to the deal on July 26, Omega reported this week, though it remains subject to approval by the Department of Housing […]
Forward-thinking skilled nursing providers have increasingly warmed to the idea of starting a special kind of in-house Medicare Advantage plan in order to take more control over their reimbursements in an uncertain environment. But the strategies that operators must adopt to succeed with Institutional Special Needs Plans (I-SNPs) also fit seamlessly into preparations for the […]